Above Image: Mary Tonkin Madre, Kalorama 2008 oil on linen 244 x 508 cm
Australian Galleries Artists G.W. BOT, Mary Tonkin and Richard Goodwin are amongst the exceptional list of artists included in S.H. Ervin’s exhibition ‘Tree of Life: a testament to endurance’, curated by Gavin Wilson.
“Following from the powerful 2019 exhibition River on the Brink: inside the Murray-Darling Basin, curator Gavin Wilson brings another thought provoking exhibition to the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Tree of Life.
As we cautiously emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, humanity is faced with a stark reckoning. The concept for Tree of life is the central motif that signifies the challenges we face. What remains of the natural world is the one beacon in a perilous age of drought, fire, floods and plague, exacerbated by the constant reality of climate change. The recent horrific fire season experienced across the country will go down as the greatest extinction event for Australian wildlife and habitats since Colonisation.
To temper an already dangerous over reaction to the vexed issues of hazard reduction, tree thinning and further rampant land clearing, this major exhibition led by First Nations artists will generate a fresh, positive energy towards the reclamation of diminishing natural resources. Threads woven through Tree of life will recognise the deep spiritual and physical associations that connect all forms of life.Life that must be nurtured as we chart a course of action through this perilous age of climate change, pandemics and wildfires.
Exhibiting artists include – from the APY Lands, Adelaide Studio Women’s Collective Josephine Mick, Rhoda Tjitayi, Katie Curley, Barbara Baker, Margot Brown, Inawintji Williamson and Margaret Richards – together with Allana Beltran, Rob Blakers, GW Bot, Nicholas Blowers, Nici Cumpston, Tamara Dean, Rachel Ellis, Louise Fowler-Smith, Richard Goodwin, Nicholas Harding, Janet Laurence, Idris Murphy, Andrew Merry, Euan Macleod, Mathew Newton, Peggy Patrick. William Robinson, Shane Smithers, Mary Tonkin, Emma Walker, John R. Walker and Joshua Yeldham.”
Tree of Life: a testament to endurance
G.W. BOT, Tree of Life, 2019, bronze and ceramic, 84 x 320 x 3 cm.