Drive out to Healesville and enjoy combined exhibitions at TarraWarra Museum of Art. See works selected from the Museum’s permanent collection, that focus on the dynamic restlessness of the planet in Rhythms of the Earth. Then, see Where Lakes Once Had Water, by Melbourne artists Sonia Leber and David Chesworth, and enjoy a series of conceptual video, sound and sculptural works. These exhibitions are now open.
TarraWarra Museum of Art
Nestled in the Yarra Valley, only an hour’s drive from Melbourne, is the beautiful TarraWarra Museum of Art. The name of the Museum comes from “Tarrawarra”, a Woiwurrung word that roughly translates to “slow moving water”. This is the name given to the area in which the Museum is located. This public gallery engages with art, place and ideas, and features inventive Australian and international art exhibitions. Step onto the picturesque grounds, and explore the two new exhibitions.
“Both exhibitions explore the Earth in its many rhythms, which can be irregular and at times volatile — as are the myriad visual productions made in response to this dynamic restlessness,” said museum director Victoria Lynn. “In combination, the two exhibitions reflect upon diverse approaches to visualising the Earth, collecting its data and material, and listening, sensing and being in nature,” she added.
Rhythms of the Earth
This exhibition celebrates leading figures in Australian art, including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Angelina Pwerle. These artists all explored and expressed the Earth’s rhythms through their creations. The exhibition also includes works from those who observed mankind’s relationship to environments ravaged by drought, or the impact of industrialisation on the landscape.
This exhibition showcases selected works from the Museum’s collection, and according to Lynn, many of these important works have rarely been seen in public.
Where Lakes Once Had Water
This exhibition features video, sound and sculptural works from conceptual artists Sonia Leber and David Chesworth. These artists travelled with a team of scientists who were investigating changes in climate, landscape and ecology in the Northern Territory in 2018 and 2019. Their journey was captured in the large-scale, 28-minute video, Where Lakes Once Had Water. The video reflects on how the Earth is experienced and understood through different ways of being, seeing, sensing, listening and thinking.
The video is presented in the Main Gallery, adjacent to six works by Waanyi artist Judy Watson. These artworks depict significant mountains and topographical features of Wurundjeri Country surrounding TarraWarra.
Meanwhile, the exhibition also includes three new sound, video and sculptural works from Leber and Chesworth. According to Lynn, these works encourage the audience to think about new ways of how we can approach the landscape, and how we can think about terrain and its cultural and ecological history.
These exhibitions are now open, and will stay at the Museum until November 13.