Drawn by stones
When
22 July -
28 July 2022
Location
Watch This Space
8 Gap Rd, The Gap, Alice Springs, NT 0870
Touring exhibition
Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios
6 April - 14 May 2022
Australian Ceramics Triennale
22 July - 28 July 2022
Wollongong Art Gallery
27 August - 6 November 2022
More locations to be announced
Drawn by stones is a touring exhibition that brings together artists who utilise the ceramic medium to interrogate contested histories, stolen land, Indigenous sovereignty, and national identity. Exhibiting artists from Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan investigate ‘nationhood’ and ownership through ceramics and demonstrate how the ceramic form can both memorialise and tell alternative histories.
Taking its title from Marvin Bell’s 1984 poem Drawn by Stones, by Earth, by Things That Have Been in the Fire, this exhibition recognises that the foundations of ceramic practice lie in the earth – and through the work of exhibiting artists, aims to expand the relevance of ceramic histories, dialogues and interrogations of land, place, sovereignty and ownership across Asia and Australia.
Originally iterated as a small exhibition project for 4A Centre’s Haymarket gallery, Drawn by stones has captured a strong interest nationally, and is now a major touring project, which premiered in 2021 at Counihan Gallery in Brunswick on Wurundjeri land. From 2022, the exhibition expands to tour nationally with works from Dean Cross, Ray Chan, and Wen-Hsi Harman, newly- commissioned pieces by Penny Evans, Ruth Ju-shih Li and Jody Rallah, as well as a community-engaged array of public programs.
Drawn by stones is curated by Bridie Moran with Assistant Curators Jody Rallah and Annette An-Jen Liu.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Drawn by stones at Watch this Space will be closing its exhibition run on Thursday 28 July, 2022. The touring exhibition will continue at Wollongong Art Gallery from 27 August - 6 November 2022.
View the films here
Top image: Image: Ray Chan See Kwong, NEW RE NEW (detail), 2018, 49 teacups: various local Chuen Lung clays, glazed and fired; produced as part of the 2018 public art and community project Hi! Hill!, by the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Organised by the Art Promotion Office with Curatorial Partner (art in-situ): Make A Difference Institute, Hong Kong; courtesy the artist; Mounted on River bench, recycled spotted gum bench and assorted hardwood legs, wax, by Bryden Williams of Mount Framing, commissioned by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, 2021; photo: Christian Capurro for Drawn by stones, presented by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art at Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, 2021
Drawn by stones is a 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art touring project. The exhibition and associated programming are supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, and the NSW Government through Create NSW, with development support for this exhibition provided by the Ministry of Culture Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Sydney, and The Gordon Darling Foundation.
