Arts and culture fans are in for a treat with the launch of Manningham Art Gallery’s 2024 Exhibition Program.
Manningham Mayor, Councillor Carli Lange, said this year’s program will explore themes of culture, connection to place and community.
“This is an exciting chance to explore lived experience and healing through the lens of these artists, on themes that seem in this current time as relevant as ever.
“We strive to support both emerging and established contemporary artists, by providing a space to feature exhibitions that highlight innovative and unique takes on different themes through various art forms.
“I am excited for the community to experience this year’s exhibitions and would encourage all artists to put their work forward for future exhibitions,” Cr Lange said.
The seven exhibitions feature both Melbourne-based artists as well as artists from Manningham’s diverse community.
Everlasting Happiness
Wednesday 21 February to Saturday 6 April 2024
Deborah White presents Everlasting Happiness, a performance-based video which entertains the utopian idea of love as a political concept. The underlying philosophy of this aspiration is to love the most distant.
The playful and vibrant video depicts an anarcho-mystic quest battling against the pathology of the post-truth world and features fictitious characters that defy the rational world.
Viewing the actions of love as a deployment of force, this work intertwines supernatural wonder with the spectacle of war.
The characters are performed by the artist, serving as a self-reflection on the internal struggle to love unconditionally. Sound design is by Jamie Coghill.
Childhood Cheeks, Grown-Up Madness
Wednesday 21 February to Saturday 6 April 2024
Nani Puspasari is a Chinese-Indonesian visual artist based in Naarm (Melbourne). Her exhibition Childhood Cheeks, Grown-Up Madness is an emotive exploration that beckons viewers into the subtle interplay between innocence and experience.
The canvas unfolds as a vibrant narrative, with expressive paint strokes sharing tales of enthusiasm and introspection, while whimsical clay forms add a tangible layer to the storytelling.
The installation stands as an emotional proof to the delightful chaos inherent in the shift from carefree childhood to the intricate realities of grown-up life.
This artistic journey transcends mere observation, offering a profound reflection on the paradoxical nature of the path to adulthood.
I Fall to Pieces
Wednesday 24 April to Saturday 8 June 2024
Matthew Harris, of mixed European and Koorie descent, debases dominant hierarchies through socially critical painting and sculpture.
Nicholas Currie is an emerging artist, curator, and descendant of the Mununjali clan of Yugambeh people of Brisbane and Beaudesert.
I Fall to Pieces brings together artworks by Naarm-based artists Matthew Harris and Nicholas Currie that traverse topics of mental health and healing. Rich and differing First Nations materials and processes are deployed along with key tenants of Western Abstraction, offering conceptual and immediate encounters with paint and form.
karu kin
Wednesday 26 June to Saturday 10 August 2024
karu kin is a special project led by Manningham resident, Grace Dlabik. Connecting Indigenous women and non-binary folk through clay making using memory, embodiment, nurture, nourishment, and connection. karu kin invites you to view the cyclical nature of the materials used in this project, from raw clay, and traditional practices, to shared experiences within community.
Moustachioed Women and Rhinoplastic Girls
Wednesday 28 August to Saturday 12 October 2024
Iranian-Australian artist Ramak Bamzar seeks to enter a deeper understanding of the culture and behaviour of women in the Middle East and uses social media as a source to inspire the creation of staged portraits of contemporary Iranian women.
Guided by Antoin Sevruguin’s historical photographs, she recreates images of Iranian women from the 19th Century to confront the ideals of beauty as fleeting and fickle and reveal the impact of the male gaze on the face and female identity in the Middle East.
Emphasising the distinction between modern expectations and ancient traditions, she portrays women's choice of fashion, appearance, and beauty to represent how the limitations and pressures of the male-oriented culture can affect women's perception, self-esteem, self-image, and individual identity.
Making Matter
Wednesday 2 October to Saturday 16 November
Lara Chamas is a first-generation Australian-Lebanese artist. Through, storytelling, trans generational trauma and memory and tacit knowledge; a set of hand made and cast objects explores links and meeting points between narrative theory, cultural practice, current political and societal tensions, and the body as a political vessel.
Sequence Unseen: New Acquisitions
Wednesday 23 October to Saturday 14 December 2024
A curated series of recent acquisitions to the Manningham Art Collection, exploring unseen stories and perspectives through contemporary artistic practices.
Artists include Atong Atem, Richard Young, Jade Plitz, Rhys Cousins, Grace Dlabik amongst others.
To find out what’s on at the Manningham Art Gallery visit, manningham.vic.gov.au/gallery
Manningham Art Gallery is accepting expressions of interest to be part of gallery’s 2025 exhibition program. The gallery space is well-suited to ambitious solo presentations and artists from around Victoria are encouraged to apply, manningham.vic.gov.au/gallery-eoi
