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Queensland
Floating Land drifts back
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Noosa’s signature Green Art sculpture event, Floating Land, returns in 2009 with a program that has grown to include writers, visual and new media artists, performance artists, musicians, photographers, researchers and scientists.
From 19 to 28 June artists will build outdoor sculptures on beautiful Lake Cootharaba, 15 minutes north of Noosa. Transient natural materials will be used to explore the theme of climate change and the impact of rising sea levels on coastal and island communities of the Pacific Ocean. Artists from Pacific Ocean countries being affected are integral to the 10-day program.
Visitors are encouraged to stop and watch the sculptors, participate in the workshops, attend the forums and performances, follow the daily photography exhibits, and participate in the spectacle that has become known as ‘Firings on the Lake’ at sunset on stunning Lake Cootharaba.
The program is supported by two exhibitions to be held at the Noosa Regional Gallery. Waters of Tuvalu: A Nation at Risk will present works from the Museum of Victoria and artefacts from the community of Tuvalu. Legacy Tuvalu: The Footprint on Funafuti, by photo-journalist Jocelyn Carlin, shows the impact first-hand that climate change is having on the Pacific Islands.
For more information about Floating Land visit www.floatingland.com.au.
Photograph: “Firings by the Lake”, Lake Cootharaba, Raoul Slater, 2007.
Australia looks at tapa
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Australia’s Pacific heritage continues to grow. The exhibition Talking Tapa: Pasifika Bark Cloth in Queensland has been developed partly to reflect the large number of Pacific Islanders who have settled in Australia. The catalogue makes reference to the prevalence of Fijian weddings in Brisbane.
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According to the catalogue:
While most tapa is made from the inner bark (bast) of the paper mulberry tree, fig and breadfruit are also represented in this exhibition. The oldest bark cloth in the show is from Futuna Island and dates from the 1860s, whilst the latest was acquired in the Solomons in September 2008. Tapa decoration draws on clan and family patterning, the spirit world, the plant, bird, animal and fish kingdoms, abstract and geometric designs, as well as historical events and representations.
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And here’s the itinerary:
2009
- USQ (Springfield, Ipswich) 12 Feb –19 March
- Artspace Mackay 27 Mar – 10 May
- Gladstone Regional Art Gallery 5 June – 11 July
- Museum of Brisbane 24 July – 11 Oct
- Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, 23 Oct – 6 Dec
- Cairns Regional Gallery 11 Dec – 31 Jan 10
2010
- Monash Gallery of Art 10 Feb – 11 April
- Ballarat Fine Art Gallery 17 April – 30 May
- Mosman Art Gallery 5 June – 18 July
- Manning Regional Gallery 23 July – 5 Sept
- Taree
- Bathurst Regional Gallery 15 Oct – 28 Nov
Images
Turtle design solofua paper mulberry bast, candlenut soot 388 x 87cm (rolled to 160 x 87cm) On loan from the collection of University of Queensland Anthropology Museum
Fiji – I Sulu ni Vakamau Traditional woman’s wedding set; Three pieces made by Nainasa Kacimaiwai, Nayau Village, Lau Province, 2006; acquired from the makers at the Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival Fiji, 2006; Model Jimaima Taoi Le Grand dressed by Jiowana Dau Miles; Courtesy of Dr. Susan Cochrane and Jiowana Dau Miles
Wallis and Futuna Tepi mens skirt c 1995 made by Valelia Likuvalu from Nuku Village, Sigave, Futuna; decorated bark cloth, natural fibres and dyes 112 x 205cm, acquired from the maker at the Wallis and Futuna Annual Fair, Noumea, New Caledonia, August 1996; On loan from the collection of Susan Cochrane
