Groundswell: Recent Movements Within Art and Territory (touring)

Johnathon World Peace Bush

4 Sep 2020 - 27 Aug 2023

Groundswell: Recent Movements Within Art and Territory

With accelerating momentum, contemporary artists are shifting the conceptual focus of their practices to address the intensifying crisis of Australia’s diminishing water supply. Alongside scientists and environmentalists, artists have historically presented as some of the first responders to this crisis, bearing witness to its effects through creative expression. Groundswell: recent movements within art and territory showcases a selection of powerful reactions with particular focus on creeping changes to the Northern Territory’s water supply. It charts these changes by grouping artistic responses thematically into the prevailing resource issues of Access, Contamination, Scarcity and Culture.

Groundswell features the works of nineteen Northern Territory artists including Jacky Green, Kelly Lee Hickey, June Mills, Aly de Groot, Patricia Phillipus Napurrula, Lee Harrop, Maicie Lalara, Mel Robson, Jennifer Taylor and Tarzan JungleQueen. The works in Groundswell extend through vast geographies, perspectives and artistic mediums to stake their claim, spanning moving image, visualised data, painting, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture. These works find commonality in their shared determination to bridge the message of each individual artist to our collectively shared concerns as Northern Territory citizens. In this way, visual culture is harnessed to agitate for the paradigm shift we so desperately need if we are to preserve our most precious resource into an uncertain future.

Diverse in aesthetic but united in unambiguous concern for country, Groundswell showcases works of formidable creativity and palpable substance. For this reason, its significance does not lie solely in its lucid demands but lies equally within its art historical context. Through these works we can identify the compelling first steps of an artistic movement in its own right. As streams form rivers, individual artworks combine to form a collective force. A groundswell has occurred.

Tour Dates & Venues

Northern Centre for Contemporary Art
DARWIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY
4 September 2020 – 10 October 2020

Araluen Art Centre
ALICE SPRINGS, NORTHERN TERRITORY
5 March 2021 – 26 April 2021

Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre
TENNANT CREEK, NORTHERN TERRITORY
15 May 2021 – 31 July 2021

Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts & Culture Centre
KATHERINE, NORTHERN TERRITORY
2 October 2021 – 13 November 2021

Pinnacles Gallery
TOWNSVILLE, QUEENSLAND
28 January 2022 – 23 April 2022

Wondai Regional Art Gallery
WONDAI, QUEENSLAND
3 June 2022 – 29 June 2022

New England Regional Art Museum
ARMIDALE, NEW SOUTH WALES
Start: 2 September 2022 – 16 October 2022

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre
MUSWELLBROOK, NEW SOUTH WALES
7 January 2023 – 18 February 2023

Shoalhaven Regional Gallery
NOWRA, NEW SOUTH WALES
4 March 2023 – 22 April 2023

Bunbury Regional Art Gallery WA
BUNBURY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
17 June 2023 – 27 August 2023