Art

John Doherty RIP

Portrait of Tony by John Doherty

Tonight my social media feed is carrying sad news of the death of John Doherty, artist, storyteller, smoker, Catholic and so much more.

I came to know John in my role as a community worker supporting people with disability and mental health issues to live with independence. John and I were the same age and shared a similar love of cinema, culture and religion.

We documented each other in the remarkable exchange of camera and paintbrush. On my bedroom wall I gaze with gratitude at a portrait John painted of me a few years ago. It captures my passion for Aboriginal politics with the colours that I wear around the brim of my hat.

Tonight as a tribute to John I publish for the first time an insight into my collection of portraits taken of John over the last ten or more years. This collection includes rare images of John in his home/studio where he playfully poses with the ciggie always close at hand.

Farewell John, I will miss our conversations about Audrey, Cary and those idols of the silver screen. I was always remember our last conversation in the hospital where you asked me for communion and a coffee.

Rest in peace from the struggles and the worry. May the Malboro Man and St Peter welcome you home and may the angels sing you gently as you join those heroes you brought to life on canvas.

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Single File Installation Brisbane

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Single File is a temporary artwork trying to turn the tide. Made up of several filing cabinets mounted on the bank of the Brisbane River, artist Warraba Weatherall’s installation explores notions of buoyancy within the city’s landscape. Strategically placed near the cultural precinct, Weatherall questions the Museum as a disciplinary institution where its archives reaffirm the rhetoric of colonialism. As an institution which retains a large collection of Indigenous artefacts and ancestral human remains, western interpretations render Indigenous cultures as ‘knowable’ and ‘possessable’. The artwork aims to encourage conversations around cultural repatriation.

Presented as part of Co-MMotion, Brisbane City Council’s 2018 Temporary Art Program, produced by people+artist+place.

This installation is best viewed at low tide. Expected low tides during the installation period are as follows:

Saturday 8 September: 2.55pm
Sunday 9 September: 3.44pm
Monday 10 September: 4.30pm
Tuesday 11 September: 5.15pm
Wednesday 12 September: 5.56pm
Thursday 13 September: 6.38pm
Friday 14 September: 7.21pm
Saturday 15 September: 7.31am and 8.08pm
Sunday 16 September: 8.11am and 9.02pm

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George Gittoes, Sydney Peace Prize 2015

As I grow older and perhaps a little wiser I am more convinced that art will touch the heart and challenge the attitudes of people as much as politics and religion.

The winner of the 2015 Sydney Peace Prize, George Gittoes deserves to be among those we name as national treasures.His biography  is a litany of grace and power for social change.
In 2015 George Gittoes was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize

Some highlights of a remarkable life

1986: Travels to Nicaragua, Central America and visits the arts collective on Solentiname Islands, collaborating with Miriam Guevara, Olivia Silva and Ernesto Cardenal.

1992: Awarded Blake Prize for Religious Art for the painting Ancient Prayer, inspired by the death from motor neurone disease of his close friend and artistic collaborator Ronaldo Cameron.

1994: Awarded Blake Prize for Religious Art for the painting The Preacher, which came out of the Rwandan series of works.

1997: Travels to Northern Ireland. After contact with both Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Protestant paramilitaries, commences a series of works based on confrontations between the two groups.

Contributes to the group exhibition, Sarajevo, developed by Ivan Dougherty Gallery, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney and touring nationally.
2002: Commissioned by the Visible Art Foundation
to create a painting for the Republic Apartment Tower in Melbourne to mark the anniversary
of the attacks on the World Trade Center. The commission is cancelled once the work is completed and the painting, War on Terra, is subsequently exhibited at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne on 11 September.
Explore his work, but more than that take it to heart and engage with it and watch what happens!!!!
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Silent Conversation Exhibition Brisbane 2015

Silent Conversation a multimedia exhibition by Sha Sarwari.

A reflection by one who came to our shores seeking Asylum. Sha is a member of the minority Hazara in Afghanistan.

 Jugglers Art Space.

"Silent Conversation a multimedia exhibition by Sha Sarwari. A reflection by one who came to our shores seeking Asylum. Sha is a member of the minority Hazara in Afghanistan."

"Silent Conversation a multimedia exhibition by Sha Sarwari. A reflection by one who came to our shores seeking Asylum. Sha is a member of the minority Hazara in Afghanistan."

"Silent Conversation a multimedia exhibition by Sha Sarwari. A reflection by one who came to our shores seeking Asylum. Sha is a member of the minority Hazara in Afghanistan."

"Silent Conversation a multimedia exhibition by Sha Sarwari. A reflection by one who came to our shores seeking Asylum. Sha is a member of the minority Hazara in Afghanistan."

"Silent Conversation a multimedia exhibition by Sha Sarwari. A reflection by one who came to our shores seeking Asylum. Sha is a member of the minority Hazara in Afghanistan."

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