Sharing stories through art

January 01, 2015 06:41 pm | Updated June 03, 2015 02:23 pm IST

The works of three artists from Australia, showcased at the ongoing Kochi Muziris Biennale, 2014, carry an unmistakable essence of Down Under. This essence emanates from the blend of indigenous traits and foreign colonisation that the country has experienced. An obligatory feature for a work in the Biennale is for it to fall into the curatorial vision as expounded by Jitish Kallat in his Biennale statement ‘Whorled Explorations’. These works offer interesting parallels to that.

Daniel Boyd searches for a connect between Kochi and Australia and finds one. His compendium of four works titled-‘History Is Made at Night’ (Kochi), showcased at Durbar Hall Art Gallery, is based on Gestalt’s ‘Law of Closure’, where the human mind discovers the whole truth, or finds the bigger picture, by connecting cues. As example, the narrative on the diptych is about gold coins discovered in Kilwa in Zambia where Vasco da Gama alighted in the course of his travels. These coins were also discovered in Northern Australia, establishing a colonial connect and a shared history between Africa, India and Australia. Daniel’s characteristic style of placing resin dots over a painted image and applying black over it is the technique that teases viewers with cues or subtle “slopes and depth. When connected, the dots become a whole. The works are in oil, charcoal and archival glue on paper. “Art is about sharing stories and we all have our local influences that shape our work,” says Daniel, who draws heavily from his aboriginal ancestry.

At 61, Fiona Hall shares a special relationship with India. She speaks about the realisation of this relationship as a ‘watershed moment.’

Her tryst with India began way back in 1990 as a tourist and what began as a cursory visit has blossomed into a deep relationship. She has collaborated extensively with leading Indian artists like Nalini Malini, Vivan Sundaram and Nilima Sheikh. She has also worked with artists from Sri Lanka. Fiona finds a shared commonality between artists from the Commonwealth, something that she cherishes. She began her career with photography and now works in different mediums, crafting sculptures and installations that include the laying of a public garden. Her two works showcased here, ‘Curve Ball’ (2013) and ‘Take No Prisoners’ (2013) are made from a process called ‘Tapa’, which she encountered during an environmental project in New Zealand. Done on cloth made from flattened mulberry bark, the images of a dystopian world are painted from traditional dyes. The tone and tenor of the works are like a faded map befitting the explorations of a world in a whirl. Fiona addresses contemporary issues of globalisation, consumerism and environment in her works.

Chinese Australian Lindy Lee brings to the flavours from Down Under her oriental influences.

In a career spanning three decades, her work germinates from her migrant status, being a fifth generation Chinese Australian.

Her entire family, till the 1950s, was still in the process of relocating to Australia and could never be together. She was the first, from her family, to be born in Australia. These uncertainties mark her early work. “My work begins with the question of identity but identity is not fixed; I am an Australian in China but a Chinese in Australia,” she says, adding that an artist distils personal experience and offers it. A Zen Buddhist, Lindy’s works draw from Taoist thought. ‘Heaven Over Fire’ (2014), her work at the show, is a circular sculpture made from flinging molten bronze in a process, called Flung-Ink Practice, used by Chinese monks. The use of fire in the process, as in life, is of utmost importance, says Lindy. It is the fire of transformation, fire of purification and is vital in creation, she says. Regarded as one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, Lindy’s works are philosophically profound.

Fiona Hall and Lindy Lee’s works are at Aspinwall. They are supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and Daniel Boyd is supported by the Australia-India Council through Asialink.

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