The Overwintering Project: Westernport

Co-ordinated by Melbourne artist Kate Gorringe-Smith
6 March – 23 May 2021

Alexis Beckett, Andrej Kocis, Beverley Meldrum, Byron Scullin Heather Hesterman, Cathryn Vasseleu, Dominic White, Hank Tyler, Helen Kocis Edwards, Jan Parker, Kate Gorringe-Smith, Khue Nguyen, Lindy Yeates, Liz Walker, Magda Miranda, Rea Dennis, Simeon Lisovski and the artists of the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio

The Overwintering Project is a long-term environmental art project that unites artists around Australia to raise awareness for our most endangered group of birds, migratory shorebirds, and their habitat. Migratory shorebirds spend the summer on our beaches, then fly annually to the arctic to breed, a round trip of over 25,000 km. 

The Overwintering Project: Westernport focusses on Western Port as an internationally significant migratory shorebird habitat. The exhibition features 17 artists who have produced new work in a variety of media inspired by the local Western Port environment. These will be shown in conjunction with the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio, a growing collection of 300+ original prints made by artists from Australia and New Zealand in response to the unique nature of their local migratory shorebird habitat.

EVENTS:

Overwintering: Artist talks
Saturday 6 March, 12pm
Join Project Curator, Kate Gorringe-Smith and fellow exhibiting artists Dominic White, Rea Dennis and Magda Miranda for an afternoon of talks and performance.

Warringine Park & Bittern Coastal Wetlands Walk
Friday 26 March, 11am–1pm
A walking tour and conversation along one of the best kept secrets on the Mornington Peninsula with Lance Lloyd, Honorary Research Fellow Water Research Network, Greg Hunt Executive Officer at Western Port Biosphere Foundation and Kate Gorringe-Smith, Project Curator of The Overwintering Project: Western Port 

This exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, is part of the 2021 Art+Climate=Change Festival and is dedicated to the memory of Dr Clive Minton OAM, father of Australian shorebird research. The Overwintering Project: Westernport is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

Image: Annie Day, Time to Go, 2017 (detail), lithograph and etching, 28 x 28 cm. (2 plates; key plate is a lithograph and the 2nd plate an etching inked in 2 colours)