John Curtin Gallery announces new exhibition featuring 40 regional artists

The John Curtin Gallery has announced the 40 regional artists, including 16 Indigenous artists, who will showcase their work in The Alternative Archive exhibition to be held in 2020.

The artists are Craig Allsop, Agnes Yamboong Armstrong, Gabrielle Butler, Debbie Carmody, Tina Carmody, Catherine Kgukgi Noble, Chan Dalgarno, Annette Davis, Mary-Lou Divilli, June Djiagween, Alana Grant, Charmaine Green and Mark Smith, Jan Goongaja Griffiths, Peggy Madig Griffiths, Naomie Hatherley, Pansy Hicks, Maitland Hill, Jason Holmes, Karen McClurkin, Serena McLauchlan, Jeanne Melville, Sarah Mills, Claudette Mountjoy, Brenda Mingen Ningarmara, Lyn Nixon, Ellen Norrish, Marianne Penberthy, Deidre Robb, Loreen Samson, Violet Samson, Michelle Slarke, Gary Smith, Tania Spencer, Louise Tasker, Casey Thornton, Monique Tippett, Lizzie Troup, James Walker, and Ben Galmirrl Ward.

Co-curated by Chris Malcolm (Director, John Curtin Gallery) and Anna Louise Richardson (Independent curator), the 2020 exhibition will be the culmination of an ambitious project to present a series of 13 regional exhibitions, bearing the Alternative Archive name, which were held between February and October 2019.

Artists from as far away as Kununurra and Esperance were invited to create a contemporary visual archive of an aspect of their community drawn from personal relationships with the people, places and stories around them they felt should be highlighted for their implicit personal, cultural or social value.

Curator Chris Malcolm said artists selected for the 2020 exhibition, which will be held at the John Curtin Gallery from 15 May to 5 July, were representative of every venue and their work best epitomised the curatorial aims of the project.

“The exhibition aims to increase understanding of the arts ecology, the practices, and conditions of regional art making in Western Australia by urban audiences. The 2020 exhibition will be a contemporary visual archive of regional Western Australian arts practice, documenting a dynamic anthology of how regional artists relate to the people, homes, towns or regions that they know so well,” he said.

Alongside this exhibition was the opportunity to present a final professional development experience for the 35 regional curators involved. The two lead curators, Chris Malcolm and Anna Louise Richardson, spent time visiting the regions and worked closely with the regional curators to present innovative contemporary artworks in their own areas.

Curator Anna Louise Richardson said The Alternative Archive was a celebration of the diversity and expertise of regional artists and a great opportunity for those involved to present within a metropolitan context.

“The exhibition not only enables regional artists to present their work to bigger audiences and build their profiles, but it also showcase the capacity of regional curators and provides the artists with meaningful opportunities for professional development and peer to peer exchange,” she said.

The Alternative Archive was originally developed for a series of interconnected group exhibitions delivered between February – October 2019 through the Connect to the Creative Grid, an initiative of the Regional Arts Partnership Program supported by the State Government of WA and Country Arts WA with additional funding support from the Australian Government through the Regional Arts Fund.

JOHN CURTIN GALLERY

Curtin University, Perth, Australia

jcg.curtin.edu.au

Gallery opening hours:

Monday to Friday: 11am – 5pm

Saturday 16 Feb, Saturday 23 Feb & Saturday 2 March: 12 – 4pm

Sunday: 12 – 4pm