The Sea Has Eyes
Oceans of Grief : Seas of Gratitude
Esk studio would like to acknowledge a context of deep grief and concern for the present suffering of peoples, cultures, species and ecosystems. Baring witness to the pain of imperialism, failing colonial power, late stage capitalism and its present atrocities, will continue us in a space of radical empathy, solidarity, love and defiance.
Finding solace amidst the psychic and literal ruin, Esk studio presents "The Sea has Eyes” exploring oceans of gratitude and seas of grief.
Littoral Beings
Nov 4- Dec 3
Artworks by local artist Kerrie Speirs.
Visual stories and messages in response to the littoral environment that is Iluka NSW.
'Living and connecting with the rainforest by the sea on Yaegl country and witnessing the continual changes in landscape is a constant reminder that change is inevitable for all living beings. The flow of the tides, the movement of the sand dunes and the shift in seasons has become a constant evolving narrative in my art making’.
20% of all sales go towards North East Forest Alliance and it’s ongoing mission to keep forests in the ground.
Horizons Stave.
A pop- up show by George Akl
As people and nature engage in a dance to settle on country, the choreography is indelibly mapped onto the landscape. Horizon Stave was an impromptu, FIFO, tongue-in-cheek visual observation on the landscape of Iluka. The act of seeing is perverted to unravel the complex culture of incongruent architecture that is continually struggling against the ferocity of the natural world. The irony that these places became destinations for vacations, providing freedom from duty, is untangled by the senseless perception of images demanding to be interrogated, to be enjoyed.
Sparking a conversation amongst members of the community about the architectural footprint emotions can leave on the landscape, Horizon Stave invites a cheeky severing of the past to reimagine the future of this small settlement on the cusp of massive cultural transition.
George Akl is socio-politically engaged interdisciplinary artist from Naarm (Melbourne). His practice has strong foundations in film, photography, and dissidence. George’s work whimsically unsettles structural and cultural conceptions of landscape. By mixing Australian-gothic aesthetics and surrealist punk humour, he creates ferocious expressions that demand close examination and a re-imagining of spaces, as we inhabit them.
ERRATIC
June 10th - 30th July , 2023
A series of dark works by Lis. Schoeppe
raw i find beauty in simple abstract shapes overlayed with tint applying shade creating the days twilight ambient with reflections that remind of the Esks burnt umber coloured waters where i reside .
i paint erratically adding minerals to my media applying textures. Purified by fire i burn, sand until i find what needs to be reviled until my heart speaks in rhythmic tone to the piece.
Small Friends Books presents…
Microbial Forest
8th April - 6th May, 2023
Microbes grow the world.
These artworks are the original and printed illustrations from the Small Friends Books series. Small Friends explore microbial worlds through science adventure storytelling. Stories told from the perspective of nematodes and rhizobium bacteria. The aim of this work is to bring to light the often unseen elemental forces that have such an impact on our lives. Understanding microbes helps us understand the potential for the world to thrive.
hollow shelter
sentinels of the pyrocene
12th March - 31st March, 2023
This collaborative show of local artists explores the ecological phenomena around the subtropical coastal floodplain forested wetland formations of which Iluka sits on. These swamplands hold carbon rich waters and nutrients from thousands of years of rains and floods, sharing nutrients from the mountains with the sea in a slow, land nurturing, life feeding biodiverse way. There is currently only 30% of this ecosystem remaining since colonialisation. Clearing of this landscape has dried out the lands and changed the entire hydrology, heralding in the Age of Fire (the PYROCENE). This exhibition honours the sentinels of the pyrocene, being the surviving old growth trees that look over these wetlands.
The Gully of Giants in Double Duke Forest survived the fires of 2020, yet the government has given the approval to clear these survivors.
45 % of all sales go to campaigns that support a shift in caring for this Country by keeping refugia in the ground, keeping water in the ground, keeping biodiversity alive and supporting the plethora of life these refugia hold.
Artists include: Al Stark, Aviva Reed, Annie Roberts, Antoinette O’Brien, Ben Ross, Chloe Pringle, Jacinta Fox, Kerrie Speirs, Lisa Schoeppe and Tanya Ferreira.
