New artwork at Melton Library interrogates impacts of growth on nature

The City of Melton is hosting Adelai van Loggerenberg’s debut solo exhibition “Pyrrhic Victory”.

“Pyrrhic Victory” is a series of paintings that highlight the conflicting relationship between our growing human needs and the needs of our natural environment.

Delving into complex themes such as habitat destruction, displacement of wildlife and disruption of natural cycles, these works ask us what the cost from continuous expansion on our natural environment is.

“Pyrrhic Victory” will be exhibited at the Melton Library and Learning Hub until 15 June 2023.

Adelai van Loggerenberg is a visual artist working mostly in acrylics with a background in environmental management and architecture. Through her artwork she explores the relationship between our natural and built environments and the fluctuations and tensions therein.

Adelai is one of the local emerging artists in the City of Melton’s Groundwork program. Groundwork aims to grow the creative practice of artists living and working within the City of Melton to enrich our City’s creative ecology and economies. This tailored support is designed to build capacity and develop skills for participants to maintain and grow their practice long into the future.

Groundwork gives artists access mentorship and curatorial advice from Council’s arts and culture team, opportunities to take part in tailored professional development programs, marketing and promotion support for their creative practices, and exhibition space at Melton Library and Melton Civic Centre.

Quotes attributable to City of Melton Mayor Cr Lara Carli

“Our city is growing quickly which is why it’s all the more important that we spend time reflecting on our impacts on the environment around us. Works like this make us stop and think about our place in the living world.”

“Groundwork supports our City’s most exciting emerging artists to grow and thrive – and brings contemporary arts practice to a broader audience.”

Quotes attributable to Adelai van Loggerenberg, artist

“My goal in exhibiting my artwork is to raise awareness and provoke discussion around development of our natural world and the associated impacts it has on the natural environment.”

“What I hope will change after the exhibition is that the broader community becomes more aware of and engaged with ongoing development and impacts to our natural environment and considers what this may mean for them as individuals and as a wider community.”

/Public Release. View in full here.