DisQuiet / Shelter

A tunnel and a cave, two primal sites, are the focus of works on exhibition in DisQuiet / Shelter. Both places house the traces and remnants of past travellers, some leaving fleeting messages and others making timeless offerings. They provide temporary shelters for conjuring memories and leaving stains of those who pass through.
These liminal places of transience and thoroughfare, at first appearing mundane, also allude to the stories of the anonymous, disregarded, and forgotten.

Scratches, paint, ceramic shards, mud, markers all showing the hand of the artist/s in the tunnel I have been visiting, observing, documenting and reacting to for over twelve months. Like so many others, I walk through. It’s always felt unsafe.
This tunnel is it’s own gallery space. There is a diversity of marks and messages not found ‘outside’ on the surrounding walls and streets. Placement is considered and works are not covered over or obscured by others. There is a dialogue between these works that the tunnel itself allows. The traces that ebb and flow over the walls reflect the pervading unease. And my images are made with the same disquiet that echoes between the walls.
Irena Conomos 3.5.24

Recent work was begun after spending time at Bunjil’s Shelter near the Grampians in Victoria. This site contains a cave with ancient rock art and is protected from entry by a wire cage. At a respectful distance, a number of woodcuts were painted with black ink and carved. Lino blocks covered with wax were scraped and gouged on site, and later etched. In the studio these blocks were printed in different configurations and on various handmade papers, sometimes as single images and also as ‘multiples' - images made up of many parts. In 2023, I also made 4 paintings based on the idea of a quiet space. The works exhibited are a reflection on the instability of living in present times and the need to create one’s own places of shelter.
Gary Shinfield 3.5.24