Space and place explored with grace
Jill Orr, Between Somewhere and Nowhere, 2011. Photographer, Christina Simons for Jill Orr. Copyright the artist. Inkjet print on crane silver rag. 105 x 145cm. Courtesy of the artist and Jenny Port Gallery.
An exhibition exploring the extremes of humanity, by one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists will be on display at the Faculty Gallery at Monash University.
Opening on 31 March, Space, Place and Recurring History, is the visual component to Jill Orr’s PhD research at Monash University and looks at the relationship between place, awareness, development and interaction within a social environment.
Since the early 1970’s Ms Orr has used performance art to explore the body and its positioning within society, politics and the environment to much national and international critical acclaim.
Ms Orr, Department of Fine Arts, said Space, Place and Recurring History was an analysis, through art practice, of relationships to place that overlap, intermingle, collaborate and question.
“The works created for this research address some blockages that impede social and environmental chance and propose an imaginative interactive space through which a productive chaos of possibility can be found,” Ms Orr said.
“Vision, imagination and possibility sit alongside the challenges faced in the psycho-social environment, that goes hand in hand with the Earth’s ecology of which we are an integral part.”
Historian and cultural critic Christopher Heathcote said the exhibition worked within the mediums of performance, performative photography and video art.
“Ms Orr works in an ambiguous area that connects with performance art, environmental sculpture and various strands of photography,” Mr Heathcote said.
“She is renowned for developing and performing her own visual presentations, often with sculptural components, although they have been visually scripted to result in photographic images.”
Space, Place and Recurring History will be on display at the Faculty Gallery, Monash University, Caulfield from 31 March to 5 April 2012. Entry is free.
The Faculty Gallery is open 10am-5pm Monday-Friday and 12-5pm on Saturday.
Opening night will take place on Wednesday 4 April from 5-8pm.
The Faculty Gallery and the Department of Fine Arts are part of the Faculty of Art Design & Architecture at Monash University.