Natalie Ryan
The Decline of the Western Civilisation
"There is a belief that western civilisation is living on borrowed time. It might be because our living standards have generally dropped without us noticing..."
In this exhibition, Tasmanian artist Tom O'Hern expresses his environmental concerns through a work depicting a fictitious mass extinction event of Australian fauna; Anthony Lister's superheroes, with their parody on modern life, asks the audience to consider 'good vs evil' in Western society; Claudia Nicholson addresses broader experiences of cultural dislocation caused by deforestation and other forms of environmental destruction, drawing connections between cultural traditions and contemporary experiences; Ash Keating's practice raises a wide range of social and environmental issues, such as systems of production and consumption, climate change, urban gentrification, waste and sustainability; Sarah Hendy seeks to reveal the melancholy and the hidden aesthetics present in every day experiences in her work, inviting the viewer to reflect more deeply on the obscure elements of nature and humanity; and Natalie Ryan explores the aesthetic representation of the cadaver throughout Western history and it's inclusion in contemporary art.
Sarah Hendy
Ash Keating
Anthony Lister
Claudia Nicholson
Tom O'Hern
Natalie Ryan
24 - 27 November 2016
Allpress Studio
84 Rupert Street
Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
> Download exhibition catalogue (PDF)