The Concept

What does it mean to carry weight? Winter is always a contradiction. There’s the crispness, yet somehow there’s a heaviness; it can feel isolating, yet there’s intimacy. Weight invited artists to explore that heaviness, whether physical, emotional, cultural or spiritual. The idea was offered loosely and wasn’t prescriptive. In a season that often weighs us down, this exhibition sits with burden and balance, and with what holds us together.

The artists

Twelve artists from across the North East (from Nug Nug to Dinner Plain) brought works to the upper gallery at Bright Art Gallery, coinciding with their Winter Exhibition. Some artists responded with the gravity of grief or trauma. Others explored the burden of memory or the anchoring of place. A few wrestled with the body, and one or two played with the absurd. Works included textiles and found objects including shells, bone and driftwood, ceramics, aerial photography, moving image and sound, watercolours, oil paintings and lightboxes.

Participating artists were:

• Anne McCallum - https://www.annemccallum.com.au/anne

• Avalyn Doyle - https://www.instagram.com/avalyndoyleart/

• Bronwyn Van de Graaff - https://www.bronwynvandegraaff.com.au/

• Daniel A’Vard - https://www.danielavard.com

• Elise Marcianti - https://www.elisemarcianti.com/

• Joanne Russell

• Karen Steenbergen - https://karensteenbergen.au

• Kate Maclurcan - https://www.katemaclurcan.com/

• Laura Feltrin

• Madelynne Cornish (Bogong Centre for Sound Culture) - https://www.bogongsound.com.au

• Mieke Boynton - https://miekeboynton.com