Judy Holding
Bonded Worlds
17 June - 12 July
View exhibition catalogue
JUDY HOLDING's work continues to be preoccupied with both the interconnected narratives and vulnerability of the natural world. In Bonded Worlds HOLDING draws particular interest from pre and post-colonial contexts of the Australian natural environment, as well as concern for its future. HOLDING identifies particular sets of imagery such as birds and native flora from "pre contact times" to the present. She describes the Australian landscape and its animal inhabitants in striking silhouettes and textures inspired by the bush. Such silhouettes are found in the rustic tactility of sculptural forms and lightness of watercolour. HOLDING overlays line drawings from cave paintings and natural history images burrowed from early convict artists with her own observational watercolours. Through this layered approach, the viewer is incited to find messages and questions buried within this imagery.
With works titled Snow Geese Over the Mallee HOLDING attempts to invoke the ridiculous and impossible demands and stresses we place on the natural world, and its ultimate struggle in the way nature attempts to evolve and regain balance. HOLDING reflects that "Snow geese flying over the Mallee in Australia may seem like a ludicrous concept, but we must cast our minds to the future when who knows how birds may need to adapt and migrate in order to survive the changes we humans are making to the planet." The mix of natural and human-made materials in HOLDING's sculptures also draws attention to the impact that industrial scale agriculture, mining and water exaction is having on the ultimate fate of Australian land and its inhabitants.
