Photogrammetry: 3D imaging of Fred Embrey’s ceremonial figure

As part of QAGOMA’s Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI), the Gallery’s photography team collaborates with conservators, coders and designers in its quest to make the Collection available to everyone. One way the DTI team improves how we understand, care for and represent artworks is through 3D digital capture. Made possible at QAGOMA through the support of…

Fairy Tales: Curiouser & curiouser!

Just as the woods are a recurrent setting in classic fairy tales, gardens are important to many stories told since the nineteenth century. Expectations of gardens as picturesque and orderly are often subverted in these tales. Following the White Rabbit into Wonderland, Alice remarks ‘curiouser and curiouser!’ at her strange surroundings; and Dorothy passes through…

Fairy Tales: Life at the margins

In the world of the fairy tale, witches and crones are not the only characters who generate mistrust and fear — ‘others’, outsiders and so-called misfits pushed to the margins of society, figure prominently in many tales. In these stories, people living outside the norm are branded as villains or monsters. The Beast from ‘Beauty…

Inside out: Anish Kapoor

Born in India, Anish Kapoor has a rich cultural heritage through his Indian and Jewish ancestral lineage and his mainly British art education. He has been one of the most acclaimed sculptors working in Britain since completing his academic studies in 1979. Although currently based in London, Indian materials and ideas maintain a strong presence…

Horseman of the apocalypse

Sitting astride a black horse decorated with beading, crochet, skulls and flea-market finds, a red-turbaned figure stands at a crossroad of histories, cultures and materials. Ambassador 2 (illustrated), acquired with funds from Tim Fairfax AC, comes to the Gallery from celebrated British artist Hew Locke’s series of equestrian statues adorned with symbols of regality and…

The horse: Companion & muse

The horse has been a integral part of human history for millennia, prized both for their agility, speed and endurance, or strength needed to pull a plow or a carriage full of people. However improved transportation options towards the end of the 1800s, especially the construction of railways, and the development of new mechanical innovations…