PJ Harvey has become a beautiful connector for Poppy and I over the years, so we were excited to finally share a live performance together this week.

Her voice is a sinuous thread that connects us back to Dorset days and Dorset places, and dredged up some old feelings, those songs took us back, underneath the forest floor, to dark and buried memories. I promised that we would dance if a certain song came on. And it did, so up we went to the dancefloor. My blue-eyed daughter and I swayed, and sobbed, together. The music reached into us and pulled out long forgotten pains and a cathartic release of tears. Other songs just rocked hard, and others were lullabies that soared out above the tall trees into the cool late summer evening.

PJ's craft is so much more than her stunning and commanding voice - it is also her poetry and performance. Costuming and stage presence are all carefully considered, and reminds me that live performances are vital to understanding her full artistry. I have seen her play live several times; in massive festival settings and intimate performances, and there is always a new aspect and a freshness to her raw energy, a torrent of flawless notes, gestures and ideas that are uniquely hers.

The audience - an eclectic mix of old and young, hip and hippy - were captivated from beginning to end.

Don’t Ignore the Periphery
Amanda Alderson & Brad Coleman
At the Midland Junction Arts Centre
1 March - 17 April

Featuring contemporary jewellery and monotype prints, the exhibition explores the creative process as a reflective and transformative act.

I met with Brad & Amanda last week as they were installing the exhibition, and they have given me some insight into the work, which I was invited to share as a guest speaker at the opening event last night.

They see this as very much a collaborative exhibition, and it was also a way for them to explore artmaking as a action, and as a daily meditative act. Here you will find these artists reframing boundaries, not as barriers to the creative life, but as essential elements to be woven back into the creative journey. Brad’s large, bold, and extensive collection of monotype prints are juxtaposed with Amanda’s delicate wearable art pieces. The common threads are a dedication to a daily practice as well as connections with form and colour, and an interest in abstracted, textured, meditative works that reflect process-driven experimentation. 

Perhaps there is a yin and yang energy to be found here too. As you will so often find in partnerships, here you can sense the artists distinct personalities and they way that they overlap, mix, and resonate. Like in so many partnerships, they tell me that one is a morning person, the other a night owl.  One has a studio outdoors, the other indoors. When they are working, one listens to drone metal music; the other, gothic Horror novels. And the works themselves speak of the moon and sun, both are to be found as recurring motifs in both artist’s work.  Yet there is common ground in the materiality, mindfulness, the act of creation.

Brad described having to sort the work into ‘gangs’ of works, as he has created a staggering number of works, some 1,500 odd, over the past few summer months. The first gang - he describes as “Landscapes, kind of, (and landscapes of the mind)”. They are gel prints made early in the morning during the summer, and a way to prepare for the day ahead. To find some solace in a studio practice and a way to calm the mind and organise the thoughts.

Working in summer, outdoors, every morning, also meant that he was frequently responding to the news, fires, the landscape, and responding to outside stimulus. Ideas have a way of emerging in the morning, perhaps refined by winnowing, looking for the gold flecks of thoughts that suddenly seem refined by the filters of dreams. There are multiple techniques employed to achieve the effects that you can see; stencilling, collaging and experiments in texture. In the ‘Texture Gang’ – you will find crackled textures, created by putting drying inks into the freezer. There is also a strong influence of Japanese Woodblock prints in the compositions of these works.

Amanda has been furthering her exploration into jewellery making by studying online at the Jeweller’s Academy, learning new things and refining skills, whilst struggling with neurological illness that has had a profound impact on the way she thinks. The rings are stamped with messages / affirmations, inside the band of each ring is a small message to the anonymous future wearer of the piece. These phrases are poetic and will likely have meaning to the artist, and then take on new meaning with the wearer or the new owner, who will inevitably bring their own meaning. Using silver, copper – and stones, cubic zirconia, moonstone - Amanda thinks of designs on paper, first in a drawing, and then realising them in metal. In most cases, these designs are directly referencing Brad’s prints – the texture, form and colour all apparent, yet are instantly taking on their own distinctive and unique energy in a small sculptural form. One piece in particular we talked about. Titled “parts of a whole; whole of parts”, it speaks of the idea that parts of a person can become fragmented over time, through aging, through illness, and how our sense of identity can become fragmented through external influences.
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The periphery seems to be an intangible thing; a thing that is at the edge of our vision, always slightly out of reach. This is an area that artists learn to be comfortable with – or perhaps they are naturally more comfortable with uncertainty. It is a useful tool to embrace the periphery when navigating through life. I think at it’s heart, this exhibition, Don’t Ignore the Periphery, embraces this willingness to explore the edges of things– both physical and metaphorical.

Further reading:

studio.amandaalderson.com/current-collections/dont-ignore-the-periphery/
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www.instagram.com/BradColemanCreative

Thursday, 5 Feb 2025
 
Amanda Bell and Simpson family dinner
At KARLA, Yagan Square, Perth
 
Part of the annual Judy Wheeler commission, where an artist is commissioned to create a new site specific work in the stairwell area at PICA.
 
Badimia Yamatji and Yued Noongar artist Amanda Bell first started making art in 2017 while working as a full-time carer for her elderly mother. During this time of intense isolation, art became an important outlet and avenue for her to explore and connect with her cultural and familial heritage. Bell has since developed an expansive, experimental practice rooted in her interests in language and its enduring powers, and in exploring new ways of telling stories – through poetry, written word and imagery, together with sculpture, sound and installation.  

Bell’s new commission F = m•a (five ways to make a rainbow) is the third Judy Wheeler Commission, an annual series of site-specific works that respond to the history and site of PICA. Using sunlight, sound and language, Bell’s work for PICA addresses the building’s history, acknowledging its construction on unceded land, a moment marked by colonial dispossession and violence. As Bell says, ‘In some of that story there is darkness. I will use light and sound to allow visitors to sit in discomfort. To see, feel and listen to voices and stories that linger with us today.’ 

On display throughout 2025, Bell’s installation channels and directs the sun’s light through the windows of PICA’s stairwell deep into the building’s recesses. The shifting interplay of light, sound and language with the architecture creates a captivating yet unsettling atmosphere, urging visitors to engage with their surroundings and reflect on the layered histories of the spaces we inhabit – what Bell calls ‘the very collision of building and boodja.’

Amanda Bell is a Badamia Yamatji and Yued Noongar artist woman living and working on Wardandi land in Goomburrup. Working with mediums such as video, sound, textiles, sculpture and installation, Bell’s wide-ranging practice is dedicated to ‘… trying new ways of telling stories that are sometimes uncomfortable and painful, sometimes fun and frivolous.’ Recent exhibitions include N’yettin-ngal Wagur – Yeye Wongie (Ancestors breath – Today talk), John Curtain Gallery, Perth (2024), South West Art Now 2024 (SWAN): A New Constellation, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Bunbury (2024), Emergencies (Open Borders), The Creative Corner and the Holmes à Court Gallery @ Vasse Felix (2023), KANANGOOR/Shimmer, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery (2023), 2021 Revealed Exhibition, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle (2021). In 2022, Bell was a finalist in the John Stringer Art Prize. Bell’s works are included in the State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia and City of Fremantle Art Collection. 

We moved on to a delicate banquet at KARLA – a dining room with a view of the city, taking inspiration from Asian cuisine cooked over flames. The word ‘Karla’ means fire in Noongar language. Thai-born chef, Ben Pienprasop, known for the iconic Chin Chin (Melbourne), and chef Sundoo Kim have created a menu of tantalizing tastes sources locally and making cunning use of native ingredients, weaving them seamlessly into traditional Asian favourites. Luxurious touches of hospitality spanned all areas of the experience;  from the attentive service, cosy ambience and consideration to lighting and soundscaping, the overall experience was a cool cocoon on a hot February night. My only criticism would be the dessert – perhaps the peanut butter parfait was not as fluffy as it could be, but that could be because I’d already filled up so greedily on the previous courses and was too full to appreciate it. It was served with an Oreo cookie which seemed like a lazy gesture and undermined the classiness of everything else. Could they not find or make a better kind of cookie? I will never understand the popularity of Oreos. The chocolate ice-cream was excellent and intensely chocolatey. Memorable moments were the spicy edamame, a stunningly simple ceviche, grilled prawn skewers, and a market fish choo chee, with an asian apple salad, hot and sour sauce, fried shallots. Also the tom yam fried rice was tangy and paired well with everything.

Thursday, 6 Feb 2025
 
Laure Prouvost
Oui Move In You
7 Feb – 30 March
 
Oui Move In You is a major solo exhibition by Turner Award-winning, French artist Laure Prouvost. Best known for creating idiosyncratic immersive installations combining film and mixed media, Oui Move In You introduces Western Australian audiences to the imaginative, absorbing and frequently absurdist hallmarks of Prouvost’s artistic practice.

Inspired by the radical, experimental and pathfinding figures who came before her, Oui Move In You conceptually explores the roles and legacies of grandmothers (both real and symbolic), the maternal spaces of mother and child, and ideas of intergenerational relationships and change. The exhibition takes audiences on a journey of evolution and transformation, from the watery space of the womb, through the earthly realm of childhood towards a climactic celestial release. Laure Prouvost’s Oui Move In You is composed as a celebration of liberation and imagination, being and belonging, care and connection across the evolving course of our human lives.  
 
Laure Prouvost is among the most celebrated artists on the contemporary international art scene. Born in 1978 in Lille, France, Prouvost lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. Prouvost graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins (London, 2002) and a Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College (London, 2010). Prouvost represented France at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, and was the recipient of the prestigious Turner Prize in 2013 and the MaxMara Art Prize for Women in 2011. Prouvost has recently presented solo exhibitions at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (Melbourne, Australia, 2024); De Pont Museum (Tilburg, Netherlands, 2024); Moody Center for the Arts (Houston, USA, 2023); Remai Modern (Saskatoon, Canada 2023); Nasjonalmuseet (Oslo, Norway, 2022); Longlati Foundation (Shanghai, China, 2022); and Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen, Denmark, 2021), as well as a wide range of public art and performance projects.
 
Annika Kristensen is a curator with a particular interest in commissioning new work by contemporary artists. Most recently in the position of Visual Arts Curator at Perth Festival (2023 and 2024), Kristensen was previously Senior Curator at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) in Melbourne, where she worked with major international and Australian artists to commission new work and curate solo and group exhibitions. Kristensen was Exhibition and Project Coordinator for the 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014) and the inaugural Nick Waterlow OAM Curatorial Fellow for the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012). She has held positions at Frieze Art Fair, Artangel, Film and Video Umbrella and The West Australian newspaper. Kristensen holds an Masters in Art History, Theory and Display from the University of Edinburgh, following undergraduate studies in Arts (Communication Studies) at the University of Western Australia.  

​In Her Footsteps: A Tribute to Matrilineal Legacy
7 Feb - 30 March 2025
​Featuring work by Darcey Bella Arnold / Lauren Burrow / Sarah Elson / Tom Freeman / D Harding / Kate Harding / Zali Morgan.

In Her Footsteps: A Tribute to Matrilineal Legacy brings together seven Australian artists who pay homage to the women who have shaped their lives—grandmothers, mothers, artistic matriarchs, leaders, ancestors and forebears. It celebrates and acknowledges the vital, transformative and nurturing pathways these women have forged, delving into themes of activism and empowerment through a compelling mix of new and existing works. 
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The exhibition starts with Zali Morgan, a Whadjuk, Ballardong and Wilman Noongar artist, whose prints and textiles honour Yooreel Fanny Balbuk, a Whadjuk Noongar woman whose defiant walk along her traditional bidi (track) persisted amidst the encroaching colonialism that reshaped her Boorloo homelands. Lauren Burrow’s sculptures examine the radical life of eco-feminist Val Plumwood, underscoring her enduring legacy and its influence on contemporary artists and thinkers grappling with ecological accountability. Sarah Elson’s intricate sculptures evoke the earth as a nurturing mother, employing materials and collecting practices that speak to intergenerational connections to place. Tom Freeman’s distinctive paintings address personal family history, threading memory, nostalgia and connection. Darcey Bella Arnold has long worked with her mother Jennifer’s experience of living with aphasia, using painting and language to create poignant forms of memory-making.  And, Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal artists D Harding and Kate Harding carry forward the cultural legacies of their matrilineal ties to the Carnarvon Gorge, working with textiles to honour significant personal experiences, weave stories and uphold cultural traditions. 

This group exhibition not only highlights the profound impact of these influential women but also invites audiences to engage with the rich and varied practices of Australian artists, offering insights into the intersections of culture, memory and identity. 

Wednesday, 5 Feb 2025
 
Olivier welcomed us to his cool pastel home-slash-gallery space where a small party had assembled after work. The most impressive architectural feature of this home is that is laid out  in a horse-shoe shape around a turquoise pool, and beautifully planted with a minimalist cactus garden. White, pale pink and baby blue walls have subtle curved features to reflect the owner's love of Memphis style. The day had been scorching hot, and so walking into such a home, with its constant glimpses of pool and gelato palette, felt at calming and soothing. Inside we discovered a thoughtful arrangement of drawings by Andrew Sayers and in another room, prints by Nathalie Du Pasquier.
 
Andrew Sayers AM (1957-2015), art historian, writer, Canberra, Melbourne, inaugural director of the national Portrait Gallery 1988-2010, an important art historian and writer, was a friend of Olivier and created elegant drawings over the years, only now gaining recognition as an artist in his own right since his passing in 2015. Olivier received a personally signed written letter from or Australian president John Howard congratulating him for presenting this exhibition and Olivier spoke of the emotional speech that he made at the opening event, the artist obviously dear friend and a significant part of his own personal collection. (offmarket gallery catalog, words by Olivier David, 2025)
 
Nathalie Du Pasquier b. 1957, is a Milan-based artist and designer mostly known for her work as a founding member of the Memphis Group. Her early body of work includes furniture, textiles, clothing designs and jewelry in addition to iconic work in decoration and patterns. Since 1987, she has consistently dedicated herself to painting. (Wikipedia) Many original pieces are on sale for extrememely reasonable prices, many less than $2,000, some framed, some unframed.
 
offmarketgallery.com.au
29 Airlie Street, Clarement, WA, 6010
0439 589 399

​Friday, 31 January 2025
 
Lawson Flats, 4 Sherwood Court, Perth
 
Mirror Image
Curated by Emma Buswell
12 Dec – 1 Feb
 
Twenty-five artists reflect on the mirror as both symbol, metaphor, and object, thinking about the way that the mirror shapes our understanding of identity and power. Lawson Flats is a social club in Boorloo / Perth, and a place of support for artists and creatives. Each summer they invite a guest curator to assemble a Summer Salon exhibition, with work for sale that is commission-free.
 
Featuring new work by Betty Poulsen, Jacob Kotzee, Jess Tan, Jacky Cheng, Ron Bradfield Junior, jess day, Nino Juniper, Tom Blake, Sally Bower, Pascale Giorgi, Nina Raper, Mariaan Pugh, Fiona Harman, Ellen Norrish, John Prince Siddon, Gemma Watson, Tom Freeman, Abdul Rahman-Abdullah, Robyn Jean, Joana Partyka, Carla Adams, Dutzi Objects, Jesse Lee Johns, Rachael Guinness, Claire Bailey.

​Friday, 31 Jan, 2025
 
Gian Manik
Third Swamp
2025

In May and June 2024, Gian visited Perth and was confronted by the potential threat posed by the invasive shot hole borer to Perth’s much-loved inner-city sanctuary, Hyde Park. Sentimental about the location and in response to the announcement of the proposed removal of 126 introduced trees in the park, Gian set about capturing the park’s beauty and serenity on canvas. Comprising 30 individual panels, the work is a compendium of the park’s history over several layers - the painting depicts flora that existed pre-settlement, in its early years of planting, its current glorious wonder and speculative future plantings as proposed by a Noongar botanist.  Each panel is 52.5cm x 42cm (including frame) and is individually framed in WA Jarrah.

Gian was selected as last year’s PICA Editions artist and for this commission he created Third Swamp, a large landscape painting made up of 30 panels, each 40x50cms each. The work responds to the site of Boodjamooling / Hyde Park, its cultural significance, and also the recent felling of over 100 trees due to the introduced pest, the Shothole Borer.

Gian Manik’s paintings are virtuosic in style, evocative in palette and based on deep research. He is a highly acclaimed painter, combining representation and abstraction on small and large-scale works that vibrate with emotional and compositional intensity.

Born in Perth in 1985, Gian completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) at Curtin University in 2007 before moving to Melbourne to complete a Master in Fine Art at Monash University in 2012.

Gian has presented solo exhibitions at Gertrude Glasshouse, Melbourne; Artereal, Sydney; FORM, Perth; Sutton Gallery Melbourne, and Sumer Gallery Auckland NZ. He has presented works in groups shows at Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Australian Centre of Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne; Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney; and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. 

Gian is represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne: https://suttongallery.com.au/artists/gian-manik/
(PICA exhibition catalog, 2025)

I was there to show them to the City of Vincent art collection for possible acquisition into their collection.

Lawson Flats is an elegant, emerald-green pond of coolness on a hot Birak day.

​Thursday, 30 January 2025
 
Tits and Bits
FRINGE WORLD 2025
Curated by Rizzy
At Chinoiserie Carpark Projects
 
This is a tight and juicy little pussy of a show. At the opening event, Dottey & Odd served up some big baguettes with flavoured knobs of butter for the oral delight of the patrons, which proved very popular. Rizzy’s irreverent grouping of a talented handful of artists came together in unison, and was accompanied by a printed catalog referencing a vintage girly mag, giving big ‘wink-wink ooh-err’ energy. The exhibition was modest in size, but that’s where the modesty ended. There was plenty to gawk at and the sizzle factor was strong.
 
Feat. Olga Cironis, Cherish Marrington, Amanda Bell, Gemma Dodd, Mandy Harwood, Stephen Genovese, Susan Flavell & Rizzy.