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DUO MAGAZINE IS PROUD TO PARTNER WITH PERC TUCKER REGIONAL GALLERY AND SHANE FITZGERALD, MANAGER GALLERY SERVICES, TOWNSVILLE CITY COUNCIL, IN A SERIES THAT DISCUSSES CURRENT TRENDS, MUSINGS AND INSIGHTS INTO CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS.
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01 Holly Grech Australian Story VIII – Blue cloud shadows… 2013, Fujiflex print on board, 60 X 200cm, Edition: 1/1 02 Holly Grech Australian Story X – Flame-capped, in scarlet glory 2014, Fujiflex print on board, 110 x 80cm (overall); 110 x 35cm (each panel), Edition: 1/1
THE TIGHTROPE WALKER WITH SHANE FITZGERALD on leave at the time this article was written and due for submission, I’ve been handed the responsibility of keeping his seat as a regular DUO columnist warm. Shane has taken a week off, though as is his nature, he won’t be slowing down or watching the days slip by while sipping piña coladas by the beach. Rather, he’ll be stepping straight in to another institution in Townsville’s arts and cultural scene – Umbrella Studio contemporary arts – to assist his wife Holly Grech with the installation of a brand new body of work. It seems fitting then that I take the opportunity to share some insights about Holly’s practice, and the stunning major exhibition she has been working towards for the past 12 months. Entitled An Australian Story: These are the hues of the land I love, this exhibition is a photographic celebration of the Australian landscape with a difference. Grech is a photographer with an acute eye for colour and composition, and with a particular penchant for macro photography. She is both progressive, and a traditionalist; achieving emotive, semi-abstract imagery while remaining true to her preference for working, “with what is captured rather than introducing digital elements, as I feel this does not align with the foundations of photography.” Of most interest is the fact that these ‘landscape photographs’ aren’t really photographs of the landscape at all. In his catalogue essay for the exhibition, Robert Heather astutely observed that “The artist has successfully created the strong impression of the natural environment that she aims to celebrate… This exhibition sets out to celebrate the Australian bush and landscape through words and images, while on another
level it challenges us to identify what these things actually are, whether we can clearly identify them and what they mean to us the viewer.”
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Grech’s photographs are largely inspired by and partnered with the written works of colonial Australian poets such as Edwin James Brady, Henry Lawson, Dorothea Mackellar, Banjo Paterson, and Diane de St Hilaire Simmonds, amongst others. In doing so, her images transcend their original contex t and are inseparable from the eloquent descriptions of the Australian landscape provided by some of our nation’s finest wordsmiths. This is perhaps best evidenced in the 2 metre long work Australian Story VIII – Blue cloud shadows… No longer do we see the image as a scuffed concrete wall or floor with many years’ history of wear and traffic, belonging squarely in our modern, urban streetscape. Rather, when paired with a select excerpt from Dorothea Mackellar’s The Colours Of Light, we are transported. “Golden wattle, and golden broom, Silver stars of the rosewood bloom; Amber sunshine, and smoke-blue shade: Opal colours that glow and fade; On the gold of the upland grass Blue cloud-shadows that swiftly pass; Wood-smoke blown in an azure mist; Hills of tenuous amethyst. . .” In taking in the work, we can easily picture ourselves looking out wistfully at dusk to the mist swept horizon of the Australian bush. Reflections of the blue clouds and stars are caught below the horizon, perhaps on the thick fog or a placid lake. This exhibition has been a labour of love for Grech over the past 12 months, though as a colleague
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at Gallery Services, I can attest to the fact that it has indeed been a labour. As someone whose own arts practice has fallen by the wayside under the demands of being an arts worker, I commend Holly for walking the tightrope between the two demands and making it to the other side. Being a tightrope walker demands balance, courage, an understanding of the risk and reward, and just a dash of insanity. In delivering An Australian Story: These are the hues of the land I love, Holly has exhibited all of these necessary qualities where many others in the arts sector before her have tried and failed. An Australian Story: These are the hues of the land I love is on display at Umbrella Studio contemporary arts until 2 November 2014, and I encourage everyone to make sure they take the time to see this new vision of the Australian landscape. Eric Nash Curator Gallery Services