string theory: Focus on contemporary Australian art

Overview

The MCA has been really hitting it out of the park lately, and their newest exhibition, string theory: Focus on contemporary Australian art, is no exception. The exhibition celebrates the work of over 30 Indigenous artists and artist collectives including Tony Albert, Jean Baptiste Apuatimi , Boolarng Nangamai Aboriginal Art & Culture Studio, Frances Djulibing, Robyn Djunginy, Lola Greeno, Dale Harding, Evelyn McGreen, Lipaki Marlyapa, Dhundhunga 2 Munungurr, Noongar Doll Makers, Laurie Nilsen, Alison Page, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Jimmy Pike, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, Tasmanian Shell Necklace Makers, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Vicki West, and the Yirrkala Printmakers.

The exhibition’s curator, Glenn Barkley, explains: "string theory is a scientific principle that posits a theory of everything. In the exhibition it implies expansion and connection across time and space, porous and open-ended embracing diverse approaches to the idea of ‘fibre’ or craft-based disciplines."

Yirrkala artist Lipaki Marlaypa’s traditional handmade woven string works act as a sort of conceptual jumping off point for the exhibition. Many of the featured pieces are united by a focus on texture. Regina Pilawuk Wilson’s marvellous painted canvases look like stitched tapestries. Jimmy Pike’s colourful felt-tip pen on paper works pulse with such energy you’ll half-expect them to hop off the wall. One of the larger galleries inside the exhibition space has been taken over by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers. The collective has installed large-scale installations of otherworldly figures and trees made of fabulously disparate media such as emu feathers, native grasses, raffia, fabric and sheep’s wool.

The innovation present in many of the works is remarkable, as artists knit together millennia-old cultural traditions with Western media and artistic approaches. Tony Albert offers a series of photographs showing a young man in various situations, both bush and urban, carrying a traditional straw bag on his back. In some photographs, the bag is used to carry ceremonial objects, in others, his mail, his groceries and sports paraphernalia. The photographs perfectly sum up the relationship between old and new, traditional and contemporary.

The most memorable works in the exhibition are the minimalist, abstract pieces by Dale Harding. His small-scale installations explore the traumas visited upon Aboriginal women and children in the first half of the 20th Century. bright eyed little dormitory girls (2013), white collared (2013) and of one’s own country (2011) are executed with a staggering pathos and eloquence. string theory is a wonderful articulation of how incredibly rich and vibrant Australia’s cultural heritage is. The lucky country, indeed.

Image: Little Dingi (still) DVD photograph, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists. Courtesy MCA.