Can you tell us a bit about the name “Dualities” the meaning behind it and why you chose this title for your exhibition?
Thea Anamara Perkins: I try to speak from my own experience, and as an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman encountering the historical forces on Yuwi Country, I wanted to speak from my place as a visitor. I decided I would draw from existing tenets of my practice that I found relevant - the ‘Australian Gothic’ and ‘Shimmer’.
I drew a sense of the Gothic from the dark histories for First Nations people that aren’t widely addressed. Unresolved, taciturn, imbuing a sense of menace.
There is opposition, but there is also nuance in the interactions of dual forces – like the saltwater of the sea meeting the fresh of the river. A sacred duality that strengthens in its meld.
This is an aspect of another duality – what I refer to as ‘Shimmer’ – my allusion to the Dreaming. Omnipresent as light, not only a beautiful phenomenon but one that connotes a spiritually potency. Inextricable like the enduring presence of First Nations people and their care for Country indelibly inscribed on the landscape.
Prior to this exhibition, you undertook a residency here in Mackay/Yuwi Country. Can you talk a little about that experience?
TAP: It was my first time undertaking a residency like this and to respond to place and a different context. Mackay is a unique town and Yuwi Country is beautiful. There is complex, intersecting history. It was a brief residency, and I have leant into framing these works as impressions.
You have a single portrait in the exhibition of local Yuwi artist (now also Assistant Curator at Artspace), Dylan Mooney. What was it about Dylan that led you to choose him as your subject?
TAP: I was fortunate to have met Dylan before undertaking the residency and the timing was right to be able to connect and take some images. To me he really embodied ‘Shimmer’, and the many threads of his ancestry are so intricately woven in this place. He also inspires me as a young Contemporary First Nations person doing great things. All of these aligned to make a great subject, and I hope to capture his joyous connection.
The landscapes depicted in these new works are so beautiful and thoughtful. Could you explain the reasoning behind choosing these sceneries
TAP: The more subdued landscapes are reflections of the ‘Gothic’, but extending the notion into dualities like the beauty of hazy skies swathed in exhales of burning cane remnants. The tropical abundance of country, and the swell of extraction. The ‘Shimmer’ paintings are not abstract – they depict the meld of water.
I'm curious about your painting process. Do you have a particular way of working or does it vary from work to work?
TAP: It varies from work to work as I am always seeking to push myself technically as well as conceptually. I always work from photos, usually my archives, so it was interesting to draw from new images I had taken over the course of the residency. As a visitor, I leant into the fact that these images were impression, and stylistically they are loose and rhythmic.
During your residency, you built up a special archive of material related to this place. These archives are a key aspect of your practice. How does this process work and how does it inform your practice?
TAP: It was really interesting taking my own photographs, they play such an important role in my practice, so it adds a new layer constructing these images myself. A key influence for me was Destiny Deacon’s 2003 show ‘Postcards from Mummy’, it’s a reference and homage to the show and her legacy.
I’ve always been drawn to images as distilled moments in time, inexorably removed from their context yet recording myriad elements, now passed. They interact with memory in a fascinating manner, subjective yet infallible. The sitter, photographer and all the other elements that make up an image are interesting. To then paint them adds a new wash of complexity and it is so delicate to extrude an essence. They are changed in the process in a way that hopefully resonates with the viewer.
As seen in this exhibition, you purposefully like to leave a significant amount of space between your works (which in turn are relatively small in size). What is the intention behind this style of display?
TAP: The intimacy that is generated by small-scale works creates a special space, even more so if you are drawn across a room to be able to absorb all the detail. Wider gaps leaves breathing room for contemplation, and slows down the pace that you encounter each work.
You come from a family of creatives/activists, did you ever think that your arts practice would have such a significant impact? and how does it make you feel to be continuing that work through your art?
TAP: I can only hope that my practice will have an impact, but I do believe in art as a tool for communication that can really bridge gaps. My work gives me purpose and I really think that it is increasingly important to engage with different viewpoints and establish commonalities and truths - if it successfully communicates or shifts ways of thinking that gives me joy. My family are all storytellers in their own way, and I think we all share an optimism that people are receptive to our truth.
What do you hope for the public to take away from your exhibition? Are there any specific messages?
I hope an outsider’s perspective can provide something for new reflections.
