Emerging contemporary art
Northern Rivers Community Gallery (NRCG) Ballina is renowned as an exciting space where you can find the best up and coming emerging artists that this region has to offer, and in May 2022, you’ll see a new series of thought-provoking exhibitions. Four separate solo exhibitions engage topics to do with human and nature relationships, climate change, and materiality and movement; through photography, installation, sculpture and drawing.
Earthly Delights | Kade Valja
Kade Valja continues to explore the human experience from the inside-out with this collection of work inspired by the simple and oftentimes overlooked depth and wisdom encrypted on the surfaces of earthly forms as well as the decay of man-made materials. Intuitive responses back and forth from small hand recycled bronze sculptures to acrylic paintings is how this body of work was created. In turn this contains an intimate visual dialogue between the paintings and sculptures for the audience to explore, reflect upon and bring personal meaning and understanding to.
Souvenirs for the Present | Julia Champtaloup
Souvenirs for the Present is a visual, immersive landscape carrying subtle themes of our interconnected relationship to nature; on the horizon, at eye level and below our feet. The images tell a story of the Australian landscape and the impacts of climate change on a fragile environment. It also highlights some of the vulnerable plants and symbiotic plant relationships to bring awareness to changes in landscape. Double exposure images have been taken in situ within the camera, creating an immersive experience, bringing attention to small microcosms and altered landscapes.
Threads | Penny Bennett
This body of work is a suggestion rather than a story, using materials to communicate depth and motion, the passage of time, movement, and nature. Evenly stippled pen marks on paper form variations in tone and cover the entire surface to produce a smooth visual texture. Contrastingly, thread and textiles used in this exhibition form a tempting tactile quality, creating a texture which ink on paper can only allude to. The artist works with simple forms and quickly sketched guides, using reference images, of natural things such as tree bark, waves, or lichen. Through this body work, she aims to spark imagination in the audience and perhaps connect overlooked materials.
Beyond the Bucket List | Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger
Beyond the Bucket List is an exploration of Antarctica. Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger considers how our contemporary consumer culture through tourism and the ‘Bucket List’ impacts this remote location. Kannar-Lichtenberger’s interdisciplinary vision examines the juxtaposition between wanting to preserve an environmentally critical ecosystem, and the travellers desire to go and explore such sensitive areas.
All exhibitions open Wednesday, 4 May 2022 and continue until Sunday, 26 June 2022. The official exhibition launch will be held 5.30 – 7.30pm, Thursday, 12 May. Bookings essential via the Gallery website .
