Noosa Regional Gallery has welcomed a major exhibition by one of Australia’s most eminent artists to the Sunshine Coast.
The light fades but the gods remain is a major exhibition showcasing two key series by the acclaimed Bill Henson.
In celebration of the Museum of Australian Photography’s (MAPh) 25th anniversary, Bill Henson was commissioned to revisit Glen Waverley, the suburb of his childhood, and to produce a new body of work reflecting upon his earlier series Untitled 1985-86, known by many as ‘the suburban series’.
This was a ground-breaking commission for MAPh and offers an unparalleled insight into one of Australia’s most revered artists, as he revisits the landscape of his childhood to explore the notion of home, intensifying the everyday to a point of dramatic revelation and romantic beauty.
“In the new works, it is as though the sun is sinking on an empire that humanity has all but abandoned,” Pippa Milne, MAPh senior curator said.
“Henson has not disturbed the sense of gathering dusk that began in 1985–86. In fact, he has intensified it, parsing it through a grammar of memory and melancholy, meshing a net to capture it.“
Sharing the Gallery with Henson in this year’s final exhibition feature is one of Queensland’s most celebrated artists.
Sunshine Coast-based interdisciplinary artist Kellie O’Dempsey is known for installations, video, and performances that respond directly to surroundings. Like Henson, O’Dempsey’s work is deeply reflective and psychologically charged.
Drawing upon the experience of nurture, She Does (working title) gives visual form to the memory and experience of the liminal space between dying and death. Through objects and personal effects infused with memories, O’Dempsey explores the complex fragility, intimacy, exhaustion, and monotony of the temporal space when one is confronted with their own mortality after the death of a parent.
Ritualising care and nurturing relationality, O’Dempsey quietly honours women’s unseen labour and questions the value of care in a society that values capital.
“Closing our 2023 exhibition program and welcoming the new year with these two highly charged exhibitions is a great way to round out what has been a particularly edgy and ambitious artistic program. Both Henson and O’Dempsey remind us that there’s often something to be revealed when the hour is at its darkest,” Noosa Regional Gallery director Michael Brennan said.
The light fades but the gods remain and She Does (working title) will run from 2 December to 18 February. Entry to the exhibitions are free. Visit noosaregionalgallery.com.au
