Katoomba Area Local NewsStrengthening community, healing Country, and restoring the health of our planet.
The 2024 Wynne Prize & Our Changing Relationship with Country
Visitors to the Wynne Prize listening to a floor talk by Beatrice Gralton from the Art Gallery of NSW
Blocking out a couple of hours a week to step off the treadmill and give ourselves time to nurture our relationship with the earth and ourselves, is one way to keep our creative spirit and ‘lust for life’ alive. If you haven’t done so yet, one opportunity over the next two weeks is to spend some ‘slow’ time in the 2024 Wynne Prize exhibition at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.
Key Points:
The 2024 Wynne Prize is on display at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre until 15 June.
Blue Mountains artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro are finalists whose work is on display in the exhibition.
The exhibition features landscape painting and figurative sculptures that are redefining our relationship with Country.
If there’s one thing the 2024 Wynne Prize exhibition at the Cultural Centre reflects, it is that our society’s relationship with the land we share has changed significantly since the Wynne Prize was first awarded in 1897.
The Wynne Prize is for representational landscape painting or figurative sculpture. At times in the exhibition, the difference between these two once very different art forms becomes blurred. A sculpture of a body looks like a rolling hillside, and paintings of the land are more reflective of the artists’ internal landscapes.
An awareness of the interconnectedness of all life, that we are all ‘Country’, is clearly one of the major changes that has occurred since 1897.
This deepening understanding of Country, thanks to what we’ve learnt with our First Nations people, has also been reflected in the choice of artworks for the exhibition. Of the 41 finalists, just over half were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists – the highest number of Indigenous artists ever featured in this annual show.
Beatrice Gralton, Senior Curator of Contemporary Australian Art from the Art Gallery of NSW starting her floor talk in front of the winning artwork by Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu, painted with natural pigments on bark.
And the paintings aren’t just idyllic visions of Australia’s ‘stunning natural beauty’. They recognise, for example, that the landscapes many of us are familiar with are crowded cityscapes, burnt bushland, stolid suburban homes or, as in Robyn Sweany’s painting, a ‘permanent’ caravan in a holiday park … reflecting the ‘view’ so many see during our current housing crisis.
Robyn Sweaney’s Little by little
I asked Beatrice Gralton, the exhibition’s curator, how ‘representational landscape’ was now defined. She looked thoughtfully around the room, observing how many of the ‘landscapes’ painted were evocative, imaginative, spirited, implied, and abstracted, and summed up her observations by saying: “we have expanded the notion of how a painting can represent a landscape.”
As a society we have also expanded the notion of what Country is, and how we are clearly not separate from it.
Another major change that has occurred since 1897, and which is clearly reflected in this exhibition, is a growing and painful awareness of our impact on the earth through the materials we extract and the way we treat the land. This was evident in both the subject matter, and in the choice of materials for many of the artworks. Some of the most powerful works used natural pigments on bark, and found or recycled objects like truck doors, blankets, or recycled fabrics. Some were paintings, some were sculptures and some were both.
Grey nomadic visions (left) by Blue Mountains-based artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro.
Inspired by the many decorated trucks in Asia, Grey nomadic visions is painted on truck doors and addresses how we’ve damaged our country by relentlessly transporting commodities across it. Like the camel, and the blackberry painted decoratively around the edge of the doors (William Morris-style), we have been an invasive species.
Julia Gutman’s soft suspended sculpture is made with found fabrics.
The exhibition is designed to also engage younger children with a Children’s Trail
Take Action:
Visit the exhibition before it closes on 15 June and take time to read the informative labels.
Slow down and observe your relationship with Country.
Check out the Cultural Centre’s calendar and book in for future floor talks to delve more deeply into each exhibition.
The Lawson men’s circle meets on a Thursday night and fills a void where once male initiation and elder-mentorship might have been, helping men with self awareness and self growth. Read more in Mid Mountains Local News (link in profile): https://www.midmtnslocalnews.com/lawson-mens-circle/
Tickets now available here for the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on 2nd August. A day of internationally renowned speakers, forums, live entertainment and family activities to grow an urgent groundswell for peace (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-peace-symposium
Today is the 80th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bomb test. Three weeks after today the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan. Help us grow a groundswell of support to ban these horrific nuclear weapons that have caused so much cancer, death and suffering. Check out this fabulous screen print produced by Don McGregor and Indigenous artist Burri for a Peace Festival in Katoomba 37 years ago! It will be on display with other peace posters at the Peace Symposium and Community Picnic on Sat 2nd August. Don is one of the founders of the Blue Mountains Peace Collective which will be meeting at the Planetary Health Centre at 10am this Saturday. All welcome to help us prepare for the Symposium where we’ll be hearing from internationally regarded speakers on how we can work to stop wars and get nuclear weapons banned. Book your place early here as places are limited for the talks (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-peace-symposium
We`re thrilled to be hosting a delicious lunch to launch the new Greater Blue Mountains Rotary Club on Sunday 27 July at the Planetary Health Centre. The Rotary Clubs of Central Blue Mountains, Katoomba and Blackheath are joining forces and their first project is to fundraise to purchase `rooming-in` cribs for Blue Mountains Hospital. It`s an opportunity to meet the new Club members, and become part of a global network of more than 1.2 million people who volunteer their skills and resources to solve issues and address community needs. Rotary has 7 areas of focus that all contribute to the health of our planet: Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention; Disease Prevention and Treatment; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene; Maternal and Child Health; Basic Education and Literacy; Community Economic Development; and Protecting the Environment. $5 of every lunch ticket goes towards purchasing a rooming-in crib for the hospital. You can purchase a ticket here (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/celebrating-the-launch-of-greater-blue-mountains-rotary
At the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on August 2nd, Robert Tickner AO, the Ambassador for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), will explain how ICAN is building a powerful global groundswell of public support for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Dr Siswo Pramono, the Indonesian Ambassador, will explain why Indonesia ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in September 2024. They will both discuss the implications of the Treaty for regional and global peace. This discussion is part of a full day of activities at the Planetary Health Centre at which you can join the global groundswell for peace! View the program and get your tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-peace-symposium (link in profile)
We`re thrilled that the Bearded Ladies Community Choir will be performing at the Peace Picnic which is part of the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on Saturday 2 August. Check out the full day program and book your ticket here (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-peace-symposium
We`re offering a great opportunity for 6-8 yr olds to learn some fun basic textile skills next Thursday 17 July, that will give them the confidence and inspiration to eventually learn how to sew, upcycle and repair! You can book a place here (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/weaving-and-embroidery-workshop-for-6-8yr-olds
Did you know that the Peace Symbol, designed by Gerald Holtom in 1958, is based on flag semaphore signals? The vertical line represents the semaphore signal for "D" (for disarmament), and the downward lines represent "N" (for nuclear). Design and make your own Peace Badge at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium and Peace Picnic on Saturday 2nd August at the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre (bookings here (link in profile: https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-peace-symposium).
On another one of the badges below, the phrase "Hell no, we won`t go" is one which gained prominence in Australia during the Vietnam War, when conscription was introduced. Many young men refused to be conscripted, leading to protests, demonstrations, and the formation of anti-war movements. These movements, including the Moratorium campaigns, played a significant role in shaping public opinion and ultimately contributing to the end of Australia`s involvement in the war.
The Planetary Health Peace Symposium is bringing together veterans of the Peace Movement (including an organiser of the Moratorium campaign), Rotary and Quakers, Robert Tickner AO (ambassador for ICAN: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), Mayor Mark Greenhill, a signatory of Mayors for Peace, Susan Templeman MP, Indonesian Ambassador Dr Siswo Pramono on Indonesia’s ratification of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty, as well as community members concerned about a world increasingly consumed by war. On the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, participate in a program of talks, film, stalls, music, art and a Community Peace Picnic as, together, we take urgent action for nuclear disarmament and peace.
It`s been 80 years since the horror of nuclear weapons was first unleashed with the US bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Find out how we can work together to stop this madness and grow a Movement for Peace at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on Saturday 2nd August. The day will include presentations by Robert Tickner AO, the Ambassador for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN); Mayor Mark Greenhill on Mayors for Peace; Susan Templeman MP; Dr Siswo Pramano: Indonesian Ambassador; veterans of the Peace Movement and young activists; Rowe Morrow OAM from Quakers; Jennifer Scott AM from Rotary International; journalist Harumi Hayakawa; and Dharug man Chris Tobin. It will also include a film screening, and a Community Peace Picnic with food, exhibition, stalls, badge and origami crane making and live music with the Bearded Ladies Community Choir. The Symposium has been organised by the Blue Mountains Peace Collective and the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative. Please share to help us grow a movement and book your tickets at the link below (link in profile):
The Bushcare Seed Collectors are meeting today from 10am to 3pm at the Planetary Health Centre. It`s a great way to learn more about propagating native plants. Watch our video below and read more in Katoomba Area Local News: https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/bushcare-seed-collectors/...
The Bushcare Seed Collectors are meeting today from 10am to 3pm at the Planetary Health Centre. It`s a great way to learn more about propagating native plants. Read more in Katoomba Area Local News: https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/bushcare-seed-collectors/ (link in profile)
We are holding School Holiday workshops for young people on Thursday 17 July. In these fun workshops with Sherlie Mcmillan (known for her Fashion Upcycling and Women`s Shed workshops) young people will be introduced to woodwork and textile crafts with a great teacher! Accompanying adults welcome.
Book for the Weaving and Embroidery Workshop for 6-8 yr olds here (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/weaving-and-embroidery-workshop-for-6-8yr-olds
Book for the Workshop for 8-12 yr olds to Create a Pom Pom Launcher, Pom Poms and Headband here (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/create-a-pom-pom-launcher-pom-poms-and-headband
In a moving call for peace on Anzac Day, over 80 people gathered in the golden afternoon light at Peace Park in Katoomba to reflect on war and ask the hard questions about its grim reality. The day was interspersed with reflections, poetry, a minute of silence, and songs by The Bearded Ladies Choir.
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