THE Coalition Government is pleased to announce support for a unique Far Northern art exhibition which will be the centrepiece of a program of international arts activities aimed at strengthening cultural ties between Australia and Singapore.
In Cairns today, Minister for the Arts Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield said that the exhibition, Au Karem ira Lamar Lu, from Erub Arts Centre, will receive $200,000 to help showcase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander masterworks at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore from June to August 2017.
“The support for Erub Arts is part of $400,000 funding for international arts activities recommended by the Australia–Singapore Arts Group,” Minister Fifield said.
“This group was established to build on the commitment both countries made following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Arts and Culture in June 2015.”
The Erub Arts Centre is based on Darney Island, one of the most remote communities in Australia. The Centre is renowned for collecting old fish nets and creating sculptures featuring marine animals found on the reefs around the island.
“The exhibition will highlight the relationship the Erub artists have with the sea and the environment, and will focus on the themes of recycling, sustainability and conservation,” Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said.
“I visited the Erub Artists at their studio in March and was blown away by the beauty and detail of the artworks they were preparing. From a massive hammerhead shark to intricate sea turtles and squid, the pieces are colourful, unique and help protect our marine environment.”
The exhibition will consist of more than 50 new large-scale sculptural works and uses sound and lighting to create a contemporary sensory experience. There is also an exciting educational element with a schools program to be streamed to more than 1000 students in Singapore and Australia.
“This is a rare opportunity to introduce audiences in Singapore to the richness of Indigenous Australian visual arts,” Mr Entsch said.
“This exhibition is pivotal to strengthening Australia’s international arts and cultural engagement with Singapore and will assist in building an ongoing program of cultural activities supported by both countries,” Minister Fifield ended.
(Left)
a Hammerhead shark made by the men’s art group at the Erub Arts Centre, and
(Right) the ropes and nets that are collected and repurposed into artworks.
(Above)
Erub Artists creating one of their signature works, and (Below), Warren Entsch
MP visits the studios with Torres Strait Regional Authority Member for Erub
Kenny Bedford and Erub Arts member Aunty Florence Gutchen.
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