BLAZE ZEV AVIV LUCY CHETCUTI TILLY DAVEY ISAAC KAIROUZ SIOBHAN O’CONNOR GABRIELA RENEE CURATED BY ALEXANDER BOYNES
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE
Canberra Contemporary Art Space Board and Staff respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Canberra and the ACT region, the Ngunnawal, Ngunawal and Ngambri peoples on whose unceded lands our galleries are located; their Ancestors, Elders past and present; and recognise their ongoing connections to Culture and Country. We also respectfully acknowledge all traditional custodians throughout Australia whose art we have exhibited over the past 40+ years, and upon whose unceded lands the Board and Staff travel.
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ZEV AVIV Birthing Pool (detail) 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
BLAZE ZEV AVIV LUCY CHETCUTI TILLY DAVEY ISAAC KAIROUZ SIOBHAN O’CONNOR GABRIELA RENEE CURATED BY ALEXANDER BOYNES
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LUCY CHETCUTI She needs to be taken to dinner, regularly 2023 Oil, graphite, wax on poly cotton, 101 x 122cm Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
Following a two-year hiatus, BLAZE, the well-established emerging artist showcase at Canberra Contemporary Art Space (CCAS), returns with renewed enthusiasm - celebrating the current scene and the rising stars. Similar to previous editions, BLAZE highlights artists connected to Kamberri/Canberra who are at the early stages of their careers and features bold and provocative artworks. This year’s exhibition features six artists working across installation, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. While no grand theme was intended, the works of Zev Aviv, Lucy Chetcuti, Tilly Davey, Isaac Kairouz, Siobhan O’Connor, and Gabriela Renee, collectively explore identity, societal norms, and underrepresented experiences. The exhibition captures a palpable urgency and a feeling of expansiveness, mirroring the difficulties faced by artists during the COVID lockdowns and remote learning. It channels their reservoir of energy and a burning desire to now showcase their potential and connect with the community within the gallery setting. Zev Aviv is a queer artist from Kamberri/Canberra, with a diverse background spanning performance, production, theatre critique, and visual art. Alongside their involvement in CLUBSCORE, a queer/arts/ sports collective, Aviv’s practice centres on the narratives of trans and gender-diverse individuals. Their sculptural work embodies playfulness, discomfort, exploration, and tactility. It delves into their own experiences as a disabled, trans/gender-diverse person and envisions the future of queer evolution. Aviv challenges us to embrace discomfort and relish in the enticing yet unsettling nature of their practice, making works that by nature are not dissimilar to Ambergris - a scent that is said to simultaneously repel and attract, essential to early perfume production. Their work Birthing Pool (2023) is a relic from a distant, gender-blurred cosmos, an extra-terrestrial world that is a haven for queerness and a transcendental future. From the enigmatic depths of an alternate dimension, a queer utopia takes form, and the transcendent future beckons. This enigmatic pool conceals secrets in its depths, its shadows teem with unknown organisms, and the question remains: what new lifeform will be birthed into this world from the waters below? Lucy Chetcuti is a Kamberri/Canberra based artist and holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours from the Australian National University School of Art and Design (ANU SoA&D) (2021). Chetcuti’s practice is grounded in materiality and abstraction, and is influenced by queer theory and ecology, feminism, and phenomenology. Her work seeks to navigate the intersection of queerness, intimacy, and relationality within both natural and urban ecological settings, while emphasising the sensitivity and fragility of the natural world. Chetcuti employs a four-section grid as a creative constraint, fostering innovative possibilities within the picture plane. Her exploration of the edge of each plane serves as a pivotal threshold that can be confronted, engaged with, or erased. Chetcuti’s technique blends automatic approaches to mark-making with monotype transfers, balancing predictability, and chance. This interplay between spontaneity and intention breathes life into her work’s surface, inviting viewers to contemplate the intricate connections between humans and their surroundings.
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TILLY DAVEY Left Clutter 2023 Oil and charcoal on canvas, 120 x 100cm Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
Tilly Davey is a Kamberri/Canberra based artist who completed a Certificate IV in Design in 2009 and a Diploma of Visual Arts in 2013, both at RMIT University Naarm/Melbourne. She has a strong background in designing and implementing collaborative community art projects, focusing on providing individuals with disabilities access to arts opportunities. This advocacy influences her art practice, which explores various expressions of human vulnerability and how people confront daily challenges. Her work frequently addresses the impact of inequitable power dynamics on marginalised groups in society. Across a wide range of mediums, she produces both abstract and figurative art, often featuring fragmented human figures in various landscapes. Davey aims to stimulate reflection on breaking down barriers between different sectors, turning diversity into not just a concept but a practical and organisational approach. Her series Still (2023) comprises oil paintings incorporating charcoal elements. Amidst motion and chaos, these works explore transient moments of tranquillity that can be elusive. Figures and forms emerge and recede within the paintings, contesting the spatial order and creating a sense of flux. This series encourages viewers to contemplate mental and emotional landscapes where stability, order, and sustained stillness can playfully remain just out of reach, with the target constantly shifting. Isaac Kairouz, an interdisciplinary artist originally from Kamberri/Canberra and now based in Naarm/ Melbourne, holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from ANU SoA&D (2019), and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts (2020). Kairouz employs a practice-led creative research methodology to interrogate intersectional experiences and queer identity construction. Their research is rooted in the confluence of spatial practice, play, and fantasy, inviting the audience to embrace imaginative narratives presented in a whimsical and playful manner. Using both physical and digital media, Kairouz engages with our inner child, blurring the lines between youth and maturity, defying conventional artistic boundaries to create immersive, innovative works. The installation chi§ke?ns ? missihg?f? (2023) examines the interplay between technology and queered processes of identity construction - represented through imaginative experiences embodied by childlike monsters and phrases. The work depicts shared and personal experiences through fantastical narratives, ultimately challenging preconceived notions of reality and identity. Moreover, it serves as an advocate for queer representation and intersectional experiences within cultural and social contexts. Siobhan O’Connor is an emerging artist based in Kamberri/Canberra who graduated last year from the ANU SoA&D with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours). O’Connor predominantly uses screen-printing and embroidery in her practice-led research, which explores girlhood, feminism, and prevailing social attitudes normalising or trivialising sexual assault and abuse. Siobhan’s artistic practice combines theoretical research and personal experiences to stimulate introspection and foster conversations about the repercussions of growing up during an era marked by prevalent patriarchal norms, gender-based violence, and rape culture. Her works aim to challenge viewers to see the ease with which misogyny positions girls as powerless. If I Leave This House, It Will Burn Down (2022) gives voice to the distress
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SIOBHAN O’CONNOR If I leave this house it will burn down (detail) 2022 Screenprint on rice paper, 1000 x 69cm (x3) Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
and anger about sexual harassment, discrimination and denigration as well as the intersection of mental health and feminism. Delicate white rice paper scrolls bear intricate screen-printed white text, unravelling to reveal phrases like “If I leave this house it will burn down”, “I pretend to be asleep,” and “I exist outside those rooms.” The accompanying series Girlhood (2023), narrates a journey of transformation, loss, and growth in relation to girlhood, exploring experiences of devaluation, harnessing anger and sorrow, and celebrating the strength of female friendships. Naarm/Melbourne based artist Gabriela Renee, a recent export from Kamberri/Canberra, holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Art History and Curatorship from ANU SoA&D (2022). Her multidisciplinary practice delves into intricate cultural and personal narratives, reflecting her Sinhalese, Malayali, English, Shetlander, German, and Irish heritage. Renee’s practice takes the form of immersive installations that recontextualise imagery and objects from her family’s archive, exploring her own sense of disconnection from her hybrid cultural identity. Renee’s work Ties to My Father...Magē Piyā Saman̆ga Bæn̆d īm (2023) specifically explores her disconnection from her Singhalese heritage and Buddhism, through re-contextualising family photos. It uncovers hidden identity narratives through intersections of tradition, culture, and religion. After her grandfather’s (tāttā) death, she reconnected with his concealed heritage, erased by colonial norms. Renee’s father and aunt grew up as ethnic minorities in Malaysia, and absorbed messages that Indian culture and religion were ‘uncivilised.’ This piece aims to restore fragments of memory, reflecting on new traditions adopted to honour her grandfather’s memory. The yellow string binding the saris within the work represents her father’s only memory of tāttā’s traditions – visiting the Buddhist temple on Vesak Day and taking part in a ceremony where he was blessed by monks with a yellow string. Dedicated to her family, this work is a journey to reclaim lost identity. Despite their unique approaches, the six artists featured in BLAZE collectively challenge preconceived notions of identity, encouraging viewers to explore their own experiences and engage with cultural and social issues. The new generation has broken through the door, and they’re here to make their mark.
Alexander Boynes November 2023
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GABRIELA RENEE Ties to My Father...Magē Piyā Saman̆ga Bæn̆d īm 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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GABRIELA RENEE Ties to My Father...Magē Piyā Saman̆ga Bæn̆d īm 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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SIOBHAN O’CONNOR If I leave this house it will burn down (detail) 2022 Screenprint on rice paper, 69cm x 1000cm x3 Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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LUCY CHETCUTI Remember me as a bit of a fire cracker 2023 Oil, pastel graphite and wax on poly cotton, 196 x 150cm Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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LUCY CHETCUTI The start of the beginning 2023 Oil, pastel graphite and wax on poly cotton, 91 x 91cm
Too much velvet 2023 Oil, pastel graphite and wax on poly cotton, 115 x 132cm
She needs to be taken to dinner, regularly 2023 Oil, pastel graphite and wax on poly cotton, 101 x 122cm
He thought her bisexuality was for the attention of other men 2023 Oil, pastel graphite and wax on poly cotton, 91 x 91cm
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TILLY DAVEY 3 Jugs and more 2023 Oil and charcoal on canvas, 120 x 100cm
Still not sure 2023 Oil and charcoal on canvas, 120 x 100cm
Left clutter 2023 Oil and charcoal on canvas, 120 x 100cm
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TILLY DAVEY Something happened here 2023 Oil and charcoal on canvas, 120 x 100cm
A bottle in the background 2023 Oil and charcoal on canvas, 120 x 100cm Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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ZEV AVIV Birthing Pool 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable
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SIOBHAN OCONNOR Girlhood 2023 Screenprint on rice paper, 1000 x 69cm (x3) Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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ZEV AVIV Birthing Pool 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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ISAAC KAIROUZ chi§ke?ns ? missihg?f? 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable
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ZEV AVIV Birthing Pool 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
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ISAAC KAIROUZ chi§ke?ns ? missihg?f? 2023 Mixed media, dimensions variable Photograph: Brenton McGeachie
BLAZE ZEV AVIV LUCY CHETCUTI TILLY DAVEY ISAAC KAIROUZ SIOBHAN O’CONNOR GABRIELA RENEE CURATED BY ALEXANDER BOYNES 3 November 2023 27 January 2024
CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE CCAS Lakeside 44 Queen Elizabeth Tce Parkes ACT 2601
Supported by
Open 11am–5pm Tuesday to Saturday www.ccas.com.au
CCAS acknowledges the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community, and Country.