What’s on Art After HoursExhibition talk

Tiger Yaltangki is based at Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands of northern South Australia. His unique canvases are filled with stories of Anangu culture that sit alongside references to Dr Who, Star Wars and The Mighty Boosh. The Gallery’s assistant curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, Coby Edgar, talks about Tiger’s paintings on display in The National and their connection to country, as well as the artist’s fascination with science fiction.

Quandamooka artist Megan Cope is interested in the myths and violence of colonisation. Her ongoing series RE FORMATION 2016- involves numerous handmade cast concrete oysters, each one unique. Piled into what are called shell monuments, they reference the countless obliterated Indigenous ceremonial sites. Join Megan for a talk about her third work in this series, the largest shell monument she’s produced to date, on display in The National.

Emily Floyd works in sculpture, print-making and public installation. For her work in The National, she has created a large-scale abstract installation in the Gallery’s entrance court. Join exhibition co-curator Anneke Jaspers for a discussion of Emily’s work and its connection to feminism, modernism, play and the invented sci-fi language of Kesh.

Note: due to unforeseen circumstances, this talk has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled. The Gallery apologises for any inconvenience.

Dale Harding’s research is based on a rigorous investigation into the mission history of his family. By drawing on artistic traditions of stencilled and carved imagery, Dale presents a new history, one that sheds light on the injustices his family suffered at Woorabinda Mission in Queensland. In this talk, the Gallery’s assistant curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, Coby Edgar, shares these stories and describes the historical and familial process used to create his artwork Know them in correct judgement 2016.

Note: due to unforeseen circumstances, Dale Harding is no longer able to join us for this talk. The Gallery apologises for any inconvenience.

The subject and substance of Alex Gawronski’s work is the gallery itself — its architecture, spaces and features. For The National, Alex has replicated and repositioned architectural structures from each of the three venues of the exhibition. The industrial iron columns of Carriageworks, for example, fill the neoclassical entrance at the Art Gallery of NSW. Join Alex for a talk on this multi-venue installation and how artworks may not be as aesthetically or politically autonomous from the institutions they sit in as we might think.

In their work, artists Tom Nicholson and Khaled Sabsabi tackle the legitimacy, representation and commemoration of war. Tom, who has meticulously created a new mosaic based on the Australian War Memorial’s Shellal Mosaic, proposes that the original be repatriated to Gaza from where it was taken by Australian soldiers 100 years ago. The artwork presents us with a new way to think about reconciliation. Khaled, on the other hand, offers us a deeply personal take on the futility of war. His fastidious over-painting of photographs taken in his birth country of Lebanon during the final days of the 2006 July War is a reminder to look beyond the often tamed or glorified surfaces of war images.

Note: Tom Nicholson then Khaled Sabsabi will speak for 30 minutes each