Surreal Landscapes: Exhibition launch & artist talks

Join Gallery Director Danny Lacy and exhibition co-curator, artist Rosie Weiss as they discuss the altered and unexpected works in Surreal Landscapes.

Through narration and conversation, gain an insight into the ideas, vision and practices of three exhibiting artists, Peta Clancy, Raafat Ishak and Emma Phillips.

Peta Clancy is a descendent of the Bangerang Nation from north-eastern Victoria. She is a senior lecturer at Monash Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University and is represented by Dominik Mersch Gallery. An acclaimed photographer, Peta has held numerous solo exhibitions and has been represented in many group shows around the world including Controversy: The Power of Art, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in 2012. Peta’s artwork featured in the Culture Trip’s article ‘The 10 Best Australian Photographers You Should Know’ with articles about her work appearing in the contemporary art journals: Artlink, Eyeline, Photofile, Art Radar, New Scientist and a front cover article in Australian Art Collector, 2007. In 2017 Peta acted as a curatorial advisor for Science Gallery Melbourne’s season Blood and along with many other grants received, she was awarded the inaugural Fostering Koorie Art and Culture grant from the Koorie Heritage Trust, in 2018. Peta’s work has been acquired by the Monash Gallery of Art, Darebin City Council, the Australian National Gallery Library, and the Tate Gallery Library, London

Raafat Ishak is Head of Painting at the Victorian College of the Arts and a practising visual artist. Working across painting, installation, and site-specific drawing, Raafat’s practice is informed by both architecture and his Arabic cultural heritage. Underscored by an idealistic, romantic tendency, his work is subtle, contemplative, and alive to the nuances of cross-cultural dialogue and passage. Raafat has held numerous solo exhibitions in Australia and the United Arab Emirates, as well being included in dozens of group shows across the globe. He has been awarded several Australia Council grants including residency at the Cite International des Arts in Paris in 2013 and is a founding member of Ocular Lab Inc in Melbourne. Raafat was born in Cairo and as a teenager migrated to Australia in 1982.

Sorrento born Emma Phillips is a photographer based in Melbourne. Her work, set around the focal point of the home, probes ideals of domesticity, womanhood, memory and dreams. Recent activities include a major book commission from Photo Australia and Perimeter Books, a nomination for the Murray Art Museum Albury National Photography Prize, solo exhibition at ReadingRoom, Melbourne and an acquisition from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. From 2014-2019 Emma worked at Perimeter Books, where she implemented the Perimeter Talks program, a series of discussions which explored various themes and issues relating to contemporary photographic, art and design publishing. Emma is an occasional writer and educator, contributing to programs at the University of Technology, Sydney, Photography Studies College, Melbourne and Penumbra Foundation, New York City. Emma holds an MFA from the University of Hartford’s International Limited-Residency program.

Image credit: Peta Clancy, Undercurrent 2018-19, inket pigment prints on wallpaper, installation view. Courtesy of the artist and Dominik Mersch Gallery. 

 

When

Location

Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Civic Reserve, Mornington, 3931, View Map