When contemporary art is exhibited alongside art from an indigenous culture there
is a visual reawakening. A light is cast that illuminates a pristine, unexpected way
of seeing that both shifts perceptions and pivots expectations. The exhibition title --Shining Mountain-- is a metaphorical landscape that allows a viewer to see things differently from an unaccustomed place. This “place” is not a geographical location nor is it emotional terrain; it is not a psychological nor
a visionary dreamscape. In this exhibition, “place” is defined as “change”. The curatorial focus for Shining Mountain is to expose the bones of what has come before, how it looks in the “still” moment of today, and what provocative concepts “place” holds for the future. Some artists featured in this exhibition
have taken the idea of “place/change” and have translated it literally, conceptually
and traditionally; others have used “place/change” as a springboard to deconstruct, reconstruct, redefine or restore.
