“All you who have not loved her, You will not understand”
Curated by Samantha Marie, an emerging curator and professional artist based in Melbourne, this collection explores the phenomenon of Australian Gothic as an alternative to archetypal depictions of Australia.
The motifs of western Gothic literature centre on medieval superstition in the form of human monsters. These notorious human monsters such as Frankenstein and Dracula represent a ‘western’ fear of the supernatural. However, Australian Gothic is an entirely different beast; there is no ‘evil entity,’ the preternatural lies in the environment itself. Australian Gothic began when European colonists' disregarded Australia's significance deeming the land to be “too difficult” and “alien.” The Gothic genre of Australian art is defined by the feeling of unrest it evokes more than any specific subject matter.
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This collection features contemporary works from Australian artists such as Adam Nudelman, Sophia Szilagyi and Wayne Viney, who bring a sublime element into the Australian landscape. On an aesthetic level, Australian Gothic art rejects the idyllic ‘sun kissed’ archetype of Australia. In Christopher Rimmer’s haunting photographic series ‘Remnant,’ however the so-called “sun kissed Australian dream” has been left to desiccate.
Christopher Rimmer ‘Nature Always Wins in the End”
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The Australian landscape plays the role of the antagonist and it is speculated that WE could be the monsters that are forcing the Australian landscape to change for our benefit instead of appreciating it. Despite these artists not setting out to create ‘Australian Gothic art’, the feelings that the Australian landscape elicit has inspired them into converging themes, forming an accidental movement.
 Michael Peck ‘Ink Drawing #9’ |
This curation echoes the spirit of Dorothea Mackellar’s My Country, a poem that personifies the Australian landscape and embraces it – not for its gentleness, but for “Her beauty and her terror.” She encapsulates the feelings associated with the Australian Gothic genre with her closing line, “All you who have not loved her, You will not understand.”
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