‘Right Here Now’ Regional Arts Australia National Visual Arts Showcase
Gemma Robins
Right Here Now Regional Arts Australia National Visual Arts Showcase
Tuesday 17 November onwards
Kings Hall, Old Parliament House Canberra
Western Australian Artists Sandra Hill and Donna Fortesque will join 16 of Australia’s leading regional artists when they unveil the results of their nine month mentorship at Canberra’s Museum of Democracy in the Right Here Now Regional Arts Australia National Visual Arts Showcase.
Both artists have developed work through the residency that directly relates to issues of inequity in democratic societies and have used the creative processes to make public the issues that concern them.
President of Regional Arts Australia and Vice Chair of Country Arts WA, Ms Kate Fielding, is delighted that this diverse exhibition of regional artists is being held in the nation’s capital.
“Regional Australia has a distinctive and exciting artistic voice, and is clearly a place where artistic excellence can and is flourishing. Australian artists at the cutting edge have always sought out regional and remote places, not because they are in the middle of nowhere, but because they are rich and exciting places where people feel at the centre of everything”.
“Especially in regional communities, artists and arts workers help build strong communities, generate jobs and make a significant contribution to cultural export and tourism”, said Ms Fielding.
Right Here Now is a prime example of the interrelationships between a vibrant creative culture and an engaged democracy. Regional Arts Australia has partnered with the Museum of Australian Democracy, Old Parliament House, highlighting the important roles that regions play in the political, social and artistic landscape of our nation.
The mentorship provided both artists to produce work with strong political messages. Sandra Hill’s work reflects on the continuing battle for equality and recognition for Aboriginal peoples and the need to embrace, not condemn, difference. Donna Fortesque’s work draws on iconic imagery of the Southern Cross flag transformed into an ecological call to arms to protect the wide open spaces that inspire hew works.
Right Here Now will be opened by Edmund Capon AM, OBE, former Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales 6pm Tuesday 17 November in Kings Hall, Old Parliament House.
