The Wandering I

From the first European sightings, the landscape in Australia has been the focus of much anxious questioning of our cultural identity. Australian artists have created images of the interior, which have become part of the Australian psyche, politics and mythology. These artists, from the earliest days of exploration through to today, have documented and drawn images that have shaped our understanding of this landscape and our spatial relationship to it.

The Wandering I will address both indigenous and colonial positions through the complex and challenging lens of contemporary discourse. The exhibitions premise is ‘artist as explorer.’ It draws its influence and reference from Australian indigenous history and also addresses the artist as key documenter of the landscape since European settlement.

The Wandering I is an exhibition that proposes to continue this imagination and critique of how the landscape is understood and explored in the space of contemporary Australian art and politics.