Safe spaces redefined

Alex Seton’s Someone Else’s Problem. Photo: Mark Pokorny

A major touring exhibition of contemporary sculpture showcasing the works of 12 Australian artists exploring the realm of safe spaces is now on show at the University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery.

The Safe Space exhibition features a diversity of sculptural materials, techniques and scale, and explores different notions of space — abstract or real, physical, psychological, political and social.

USC art gallery manager Megan Williams said the Sunshine Coast was the final stop of a five-state tour of this remarkable exhibition developed by Museums and Galleries Queensland.

“Many of the works take, as their point of departure, the human body: its dimensions, the spaces it occupies, the narratives that contain it and the theatre or spectacle that unfolds around it,” she said.

Exhibition curator Christine Morrow said the title of the exhibition encouraged viewers to consider the ways the artworks engage the themes of safety or a lack of safety.

“Sculpture is conventionally defined by the way it occupies three dimensions. Yet these works project into other psychological and cultural dimensions – those that cannot be contained within the physical realm,” she said.

The exhibition includes works by Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Alex Seton, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, David Cross, Franz Ehmann, Karla Dickens, Keg de Souza, Michelle Nikou, Rosie Miller, Tim Sterling and Will French.

Safe Space will be on display at the USC Art Gallery until 15 January. For more information, visit usc.edu.au/art-gallery/whats-on/safe-space