Northern Rivers Community Gallery (NRCG) presents four exhibitions this August drawing on themes of beauty and resilience found in our environment and communities as well as our personal relationships with our place in the world.
Resilience | Kai Gecso-Thorndycraft
Born deaf and neurodivergent, local Northern Rivers artist Kai Gecso-Thorndycraft uses his arts practice to convey the subtle nuances that he observes around him. His latest exhibition Resilience reflects the strength of a community which has been besieged by drought, flood, fire, covid and ongoing overdevelopment. This exhibition highlights the resilience found within nature and the continual dance between sensitivity and strength, death, and rebirth.
Covering/Encompassing | Sascha Bravery
Covering/Encompassing is a collaborative creation between Sascha Bravery and the environment. The work depicts a portion of time existing on unceded Bundjalung Country after four natural disasters that occurred between 2017-22.
This exhibition consists of patchwork quilts whose segments are dissected canvases and pieces of previous artworks made during this time. The artworks were originally created and then subsumed by the 2017 Lismore floods before being developed further by burying them in and dragging them across the burnt terrain of the Bungawalbin National Park after the 2019/20 bush fires. Finally, they were buried in the earth and used to clean muddy possessions after the 2022 floods.
The quilts themselves do not appear to be the kind that would provide comfort but their intricate layered mark making signifies the undeniable beauty and tragedy that connects us all.
Making-Kin | Ceramics Group Exhibition
Making-Kin is a group exhibition of three local ceramicists exploring relationships between humans and nature.
Natalia Torres Negreira is intrigued by phosphorescence that occurs in the natural world on a microscopic scale all the way up to gaseous cloud formations and nebulae. Fungi, glow worms and oceanic bioluminescence, inspire and inform her ceramic work.
Anthea Amore’s work explores oceanic and environmental themes, and her sculptural wall hangings reflect the power of the ocean and our human connection to it. Her work focuses on objects that come and go from our coastlines as tides ebb and flow and is made up of ceramic pieces woven together to reflect the littoral zone.
Fern Bain Bertram believes that reality is warped and has created a range of ceramic ‘Forest Folk’, creating characters from their own parallel universe and inspired by nature. Nothing is real and nothing is not real, everything is all a fantasy. Fern’s interpretation of reality challenges our own intimate version of reality and what we think is real.
LIVING WATER visits [streams of reconnection] | Annique Goldenberg
Annique Goldenberg’s life of sailing oceans with her family has instilled in a deep respect for water. In response to the sadness and feelings of disconnection following the Northern Rivers floods, Annique invited members of the community to visit places of water that hold a special significance for them.
This exhibition shows the creative outcomes that emerged during their time spent alongside each chosen body of water which acted as transformational agents of reconnection to their water relationships. The thoughtful, surprising, and uplifting memories and reflections that emerged as stories, have flowed deep into their life experiences to become LIVING WATER visits [streams of reconnection].
All exhibitions open Wednesday, 23 August and continue until Thursday, 12 October. The official exhibition launch will be held 5.30 – 7.30pm, Thursday, 31 August.
The Northern Rivers Community Gallery is located at 44 Cherry Street Ballina and is open Wednesday to Friday from 10am until 4pm and weekends from 9.30am until 1pm. For further information contact the Gallery on 02 6681 0530 or visit the website www.nrcgballina.com.au
