The project, Frontier Imaginaries Edition No 2, supported curator Vivian Ziherl and Queensland Indigenous artists Richard Bell, Megan Cope, Gordon Hookey and Dr. Ryan Presley, and non-Indigenous artist Rachel O’Reilly to attend and feature their works at the Jerusalem Show VIII at the third Qalandiya International, a biennial event and arts-calendar highlight in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The Jerusalem Show VIII presented a two-part exhibition Before and After Origins under the theme This Sea is Mine, exploring the relations of modernity, colonisation, property and territorial belonging.
Artists were invited to present their projects as part of the program and participated in a range of cultural activities including film screenings, exhibitions, installation art, workshops, professional tours, talks and presentations.
Two curators from the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum, Elizabeth Gondwe and Indigenous curator Freja Carmichael, also attended the Jerusalem Show for a capacity-building visit. On their return they hosted a public program connecting with local audiences.
September 2016 to April 2017
Jerusalem (Palestinian Territories), Dunwich (Stradbroke Island)
$57,749 Queensland Arts Showcase Fund
Vivian Ziherl, Curator of Frontier Imaginaries Edition No. 2 shares her insights:
The project was the first venture for Frontier Imaginaries overseas – following its launch and first edition in Brisbane with a multi-platform exhibition across the Institute of Modern Art, QUT Art Museum, and Australian Cinematheque (May – July 2017).
Locations like Brisbane and Jerusalem might seem to be worlds apart, and hard to imagine in close dialogue. What the project found was that by bringing a group of artists from Queensland together to undertake work in Jerusalem, strong dialogues and resonance could be found with local artists and audiences. The project thereby undertook a reciprocal process of education, whereby international artists and audiences learned about the context of Queensland and its artists, while Queensland artists learned about the international significance of their work and home context.
The experiment of a local ‘report-back’ was also very rewarding. This program began in Jerusalem, with two curators connected to the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum joining the opening events as participant observers of the project. They then acted as ambassadors back to the Minjerribah / Stradbroke Island community, forging relevance and connectivity to these far-off activities. This is an approach that the project will certainly build on in the future.
Overall, the project was a bold step forward for Frontier Imaginaries, moving from the well-known, familiar and supported context in Queensland into a major, high-profile international context with such outstanding partners as Al Ma’mal Foundation and the Third Qalandiya International. This has set the scene and capacity for further ambitious international activities, as well as a set of practices which can be grounded and connected continuously back to Queensland audiences and art communities.
Email: vivian.ziherl@gmail.com
Website: http://frontierimaginaries.org
http://www.almamalfoundation.org
http://www.qalandiyainternational.org