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Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery are again excelling with the National Works on Paper 2024 exhibition. I’m immersed in all things paper at the moment and was excited, enchanted and surprised at the various pieces chosen for this showcase from contemporary artists from across Australia working in the fields of weaving, video, drawing, printmaking, digital prints and paper sculpture.
As there were 70 works shortlisted I’ll focus on a couple of the more sculptural pieces that caught my eye.
The magnificent work of Jacky Chen, ‘…that awaits at the end of life’. A weaving of Kozo and Joss papers plus other fibres, that she shared took 2 years to weave. After attending her weaving workshop I’m in awe of the work having a closer appreciation of the skill required.
Jenna Lee’s work, ‘Tokens of Protection’ were a series of delicate paper objects made from pages from an Aboriginal Words and Place Names book, including a necklace, shield, bag, bowl and entomology boxes.
Both works speak of the artist’s heritage, culture and conversations that need to happen.
I also loved Mandy Gunn’s work that was woven from book pages from discarded sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The piece called, ‘The encyclopedia of lost words’ spoke directly to me as she explores waste in our daily lives from these books, now often languishing in Op shops.
I also was struck by the craft of two works:
Emma Bingham’s ‘Mantle’ another Kozo paper work that hung like skin or a cloak from the wall. So much was wrapped up in this piece as it spoke to the stitching together of memories and connections.
Ashleigh Brigg’s ‘The Bay’ was an ink work on knitted paper, again with a sense of nostalgia and fading memory as she combined ink painting on an intricately knitted paper scene.
