Links Gallery: 20 January - 4 March
Susan Wood, Dusty days, 2010, bush dyed silk and recycled table linen, hand and machine stitched Photo: Myles Prangnell
In Secrets and Lives, a new, vivid and evocative exhibition now on display at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Susan Wood explores the lives of women in the Australian bush. Through stitched textiles, artists' books, and 'cabinets of curiosities', the artist reflects on the nature of women's domestic activities and the purposes they serve, and the secrets that lie behind closed doors. Bringing together a beautiful mix of skills and techniques, Susan Wood combines printmaking, collage, embroidery and quilting, in work that ranges from small, hand-held books to large-scale patterned wall hangings.
Susan Wood has worked on these seemingly delicate and fragile, yet surprisingly tough and gripping items over several years. She was initially inspired by a visit to the Rural Museum at Temora, on a hot summer day, where the heat and dust brought home to her the trials of domestic life, and the difficulties of raising families and keeping them together in the Australian bush. Susan herself says:
Since then I have thought a lot about life in the bush, about the relentless nature of domestic labour, and about the need to impose order and find some kind of beauty in a harsh and unforgiving environment, to make something that might last. After learning about the mysterious death of my great-grandmother, an event that was a secret for nearly seventy years (in our branch of the family at any rate), I have also thought a lot about secrets. Every family has them.
Exhibition Launch
When: Friday 20 January, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Where: Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Cost: Free
Lunchtime Lecture
Susan Wood will discuss her exhibition and the works on display, lifting the veil on some of their 'secrets', in the first of Wagga Wagga Art Gallery's 2012 series of Lunchtime Lectures.
When: Wednesday 15 February, 12:00 - 1:00pm
Where: Links Gallery, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Cost: Free