Projects

The Life and Death Show 2002-2003

2003 Jennifer Line Shroud

The Life and Death Show, Cleveland House Stables Gallery, Cleveland, Tasmania, 31 March - 28 April 2002 - included 25 artists, including Jo Anglesey, E.M. Christensen, Bron Fionnachd-Fin, Merril Gough, John Haire, Ralph Haertel, Gay Hawkes, Trudy Humphries, Jennifer Line, Harold McGee, Trish Newham, Juliet Partridge, Sharon Pittaway, Melissa Smith, Rylton Viney, Helene Weeding, Vicky Lee West, Katy Woodfruff and Lisa Roberts. This was an exhibition of artworks in a range of media on the theme of life and death. It grew out of a conversation in Hobart between myself and Jennifer Line shortly before I left for Antarctica, about the September 11 disaster, the risks of travel to inhospitable places, the death of my mother, and the impending death of Jennifer's lifelong partner. Our response was to make artworks to give form to our thoughts and feelings. Other artists we knew were similarly moved by this moment in time to make connections with other losses, personal and cultural. As artists drawn to working with communities, Jennifer and I encouraged the sharing of these responses to evolve into an artist-driven exhibition. By the time I had returned from the south, Judith Azimus had opened up her gallery as a space for artists to meet, share ideas, plan and mount the astonishingly moving exhibition: Life and Death. It was opened to a huge gathering of people by the Mayor of Launceston, Janie Dickenson. Before the crowds arrived, I took these photographs:

L.R. August 2006