The exhibition was extended until June 30 at Carrick Hill. I have only just de-installed.
This has been one of the most satisfying projects! The immersion, the residency, the research, the making and the show will continue to feed my practice for evermore.
Devoting an entire year to the evolution of the work was critical and the complexities that arose throughout the research were revelatory.
My relationship to the meaning of plants, gardens and the ‘native bush’ has been challenged and reshaped, accelerated by the knowledge held by others and broadened by an uncovering of the gaps in my own knowledge. More than ever, I feel that there is much to learn from the colonial past if the future is to hold any hope.
These questions held my focus-
How do we engage with the natural world when we are distanced from it?
Can living with art inform the art of living in these times of great uncertainty?
I hoped to encourage dialogue on the relationship we have with the natural world and create an opportunity for art to disrupt our held assumptions and expectations.
The collection of works made in response to my research, conversations, experiments and intuition are personal, mediated through my own lens and language of making. However, I feel I became a conduit for many points of view, and in a sense, whilst I wasn’t aiming to document, I felt like a responder, a translator, and as a result the works became catalysts for deep conversation.
Displayed within the house museum the seven new works were integrated within the domestic settings as if they were part of the Haywards’ collection and daily lives.
For the duration of the exhibition, I renamed the Wall Gallery, on the top floor, The Assembly Room and turned it into a temporary studio space. I filled it with work tables, notebooks, sketches, texts, experiments, images and films revealing the workings of the project and providing some insight into how the pieces for the exhibition came to be. For several sessions selected days I invited the public in for conversations on art and science, history, our relationships to plants and gardens, and the wider issues of climate and biodiversity. It felt like a logical extension of my time here and I was so encouraged by the dialogue with audiences, the depth of inquiry and concern for our planet.
As an artist my role is not to come up with solutions, however, the works became catalysts for meaningful exchange.
Carrick Hill (through the support of The Friends) have acquired The Weeping Orchid” for their permanent collection. Such an honour.
There was some great coverage of this project. Here are some links!
InDaily 17th March, 2023
“House museums such as Carrick Hill are often seen as capturing a moment in time, but Truman believes it is not static; there are symbols of the past and present, and also an indication of the future if you go looking. Through an evaluation of nature and our connection to it, her presentation connects the pre-colonial history to the site’s colonial foundations as well as to issues of the present day.
Truman’s research and subsequent exhibition is just the starting point for thinking about the land we are on and its future.
“I can start conversations,” she states. “As an artist, I can’t come up with solutions but I can identify the gaps in our knowledge and we can talk about them. I think that’s what art should do: start conversations that are relevant to life now and relevant to life in the future.”
Art Guide 17th March 2023
https://artguide.com.au/catherine-truman-on-gardens-nature-and-culture/
“The Arrangements: Assembling Nature probes the space between nature and humans.”
ABC Radio National Broadcast Wed 15 Mar 2023
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-art-show/andy-warhol-catherine-truman/102044892
A limited number of catalogues from this exhibition are available. Please email me with your request.