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An exhibition of drawn works by Ana Pollakfeaturing photographs by Juno Gemes SARA RONEY GALLERY The beauty of the ancient rugged sandstone country along the Lower Hawkesbury River acts like a magnet for artists, writers, musicians, and ecologists. These artists continually develop new traditions and strategies for celebrating this unique country along with their desire to acknowledge and safeguard it ecologically and culturally. Ode to Oysters is an exhibition of drawings by Ana Pollak that celebrates both the natural and manmade in the Hawkesbury estuary. The drawn works interpret oyster leases, reflections, fog and vast spaces with influences from Chinese calligraphy and western drawing practice. The river around Dangar Island, where Pollak lives, is still gently delineated with the skeletal structures of old oyster stakes put in place by generations of oyster farmers. With the introduction of new oyster farming practices to counter the QX virus these old stakes are being removed. Pollak's drawings act as a record and homage to these vanishing river icons. Works by photographer Juno Gemes will be shown on screens in the Sara Roney Gallery to accompany the show. Photographs from The Language of Oysters and new photographs by Gemes, "On Mullet Creek with Ana Pollak," provide a further sense of where the drawings have grown from. Poet Robert Adamson, renowned for his writing on the Hawkesbury River, will read at the opening from The Language of Oysters, poems by Robert Adamson, photographs by Juno Gemes, published by Craftsman House. |
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