Fairy Tales: Lost children

Not all those who find themselves deep in the woods have gone there willingly, with lost or abandoned children recurrent characters in fairy tales — at a time when women frequently died in childbirth, their remaining children often faced challenging domestic situations. In ‘Hansel and Gretel’, the siblings are abandoned in the woods by their…

Rosalie Gascoigne: An alternative form of art making

Rosalie Gascoigne (25 January 1917–1999) first came to public attention in the mid 1970s through her installations and boxes of found objects. She is best known, however, for her wall-based assemblages, which brought diverse materials from everyday life into new frames of reference. Gascoigne worked with items that had been discarded and left to weather,…

Georgia Walsh: QAGOMA’s Regional Liaison Officer

Georgia Walsh — Badtjala woman, artist and QAGOMA’s Regional Liaison Officer — shares something of her artistic practice, working with regional and remote communities, and a philosophy of gratitude, joy, and seizing every opportunity. Describe your work area. As Regional Liaison Officer (a role generously supported by the Neilson Foundation), I’m part of the QAGOMA…

Fairy Tales: Far from home

Family dynamics play a crucial role in fairy tales. Many begin with a rupture in the home that compels a character to undertake a quest, which then provides the setting for lessons in independence and resilience. Estrangements come in many forms: between children and vindictive step-parents (with their equally unpleasant offspring), or between jealous siblings…

Fairy Tales: Transformation & enchantment

Transformation is an essential element in the fairy tale tradition. A change of appearance (a frog becoming a prince) can signal or conceal a character’s true identity. Temporary illusions (a pumpkin turning into a carriage) and changes in financial or social standing (a servant becoming a princess) allow characters to experience other realms. While some…

How do we perceive light, space & colour?

Australian artist Taree Mackenzie creates videos and installations that explore how we perceive light, space and colour. The artist’s ‘Pepper’s ghost’ works stem from the optical illusion of the same name, originally popularised in the 1800s in Victorian stagecraft and entertainment and named after British scientist and inventor John Henry Pepper. Still commonly used in…