Award-winning artist in conversation at the Gallery
20 October 2016
Artist Michael Cook ‘In Conversation’ speaking to his new series of photographs
Michael Cook is an award-winning Brisbane-based photomedia artist of Bidjara heritage. The Tweed Regional Gallery is the first public gallery to host the full suite of Michael Cook’s latest photographic series entitled Mother. This emotionally engaging series explores a universal theme that is crucial to the wellbeing of all. The love or absence of a mother is paramount to the development and future of each child the world over.
“Mother is a journey through 13 images of a woman in a deserted Australian landscape,” Gallery Director, Susi Muddiman OAM, said. “These are powerful and evocative images that possess an arrested stillness. Each of them speaks to something dramatic, and has a sense of loss or regret. The experience or the idea of loss and longing is something we can all connect to in some way,” Ms Muddiman said.
Michael Cook has tackled subjects from the political to the historical since 2009. In Mother we see his most intensely personal work to date. While these images speak directly and poetically to Australia’s Stolen Generation, they also speak to a universal experience of disconnection between mother and child.
The artist says of his work: “I create artwork about Indigenous issues, past and present, about how the past relates to the present and, eventually, moulds the future. I’m not sure whether I really need to belong anywhere. Put simply, I’m a person of mixed ancestry – some of which is Indigenous. I look at the big picture, I am Australian, I tell my stories to Australians of all races and also to those beyond our shores. I am a part of the human race.”
The Gallery is thrilled to host Michael Cook during the coming week as he generously shares insights into the thematic basis and technical processes of his practice with our visitors and school students of the region.
A public ‘In Conversation’ event will be held on Sunday 23 October, at 2pm. Join Michael Cook and Gallery Director Susi Muddiman OAM for reflections on Mother - a new body of work that unravels the artist’s personal history and explores broader universal ideas of motherhood, belonging and identity.
WHAT: ‘In Conversation’ event with artist Michael Cook and Gallery Director Susi Muddiman OAM
WHERE: Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre
2 Mistral Road, Murwillumbah NSW 2484
WHEN: Sunday 23 October 2016 at 2pm
COST: Free. No bookings required.
The Tweed Regional Gallery acknowledges the generous support of Hong Kong art collectors Alan Conder and Alan Pigott in presenting this exhibition.
Michael Cook’s Mother will be on display at the Gallery from 26 August to Sunday 11 December 2016.
Also available to secondary school teachers is and education resource featuring an essay by Rhoda Roberts. This resource is available for downloading from the Gallery’s website at http://artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au/ResourcesAndActivities.
Downloads
Photo 1(JPG, 80KB)
Caption: Michael Cook - Mother