Image credit: Marianne Penberthy An Offering, 2019. Photo by Brad Coleman. Image courtesy of John Curtin Gallery.
The Alternative Archive
PAST EXHIBITION
2022-24
A dynamic anthology of regional arts practice
The Alternative Archive touring exhibition presented a contemporary visual archive of regional Western Australian arts practice, documenting a dynamic anthology of how regional artists relate to the people, homes, towns or regions that they know so well.
It showcased work by 28 contemporary artists selected from a series of regionally based exhibitions facilitated by local curators.
The Alternative Archive is the culmination of a three-year project involving 13 regional art galleries, 35 curators and 200 artists and is co-curated by John Curtin Gallery Director Chris Malcolm and Independent Curator/Artist Anna Louise Richardson. It aims to increase understanding of the arts ecology, the practices and conditions of regional art making in Western Australia.
Artists
Kimberley
Naomie Hatherley, June Dijagween, Peggy Madij Griffiths, Agnes Yamboong Armstrong, Brenda Mingen Ningamara, Mary-Lou Divilli
Mid West
Marianne Penberthy, Charmaine Green, Mark Smith, Ellen Norrish, Gabrielle Butler
Wheatbealt
Michelle Slarke, Jeanne Melville, Tania Spencer, Chan Dalgarno
Goldfields-Esperance
Karen McClurkin, Tina Carmody, Debbie Carmody, Kgukgi Catherine Howard Noble
Great Southern
Serena McLauchlan
Peel
Alana Grant, Lyn Nixon, James Walker, Deidre Robb, Maitland Hill
Southwest
Claudette Mountjoy, Lizzie Troup, Louise Tasker
June Djiagween, When the Marjar came (blackbirding), 2019. Image courtesy Kevin Smith.
Charmaine Green & Mark Smith, Unravelling Archives 1, 2019. Image courtesy the artists and Geraldton Regional Art Gallery.
Tina Carmody, Wiru Kapi, 2017. Image courtesy the artist.
READ: REGIONAL CONVERSATIONS
Image credit: Kgukgi Catherine Noble Howard. Photography by Mellen Burns
Follow the links below to meet the exhibiting artists in our Regional Conversations series:
WATCH
“Archives aren’t just in the libraries you know. They’re everywhere.”
Mark Smith
A short video featuring Wajarri-Badimaya-Maori man Mark Smith, and his mother, Wajarri-Badimaya woman Dr Charmaine Green.
For Smith, art making with his mother means more than the picture at the end. In this video, Smith interrogates Western modes of archival knowledge and highlights the importance of stories and information held by families and communities, and their transfer to subsequent generations.
TOUR ITINERARY
2022
July 8 – September 4
Geraldton Regional Art Gallery
2023
January 27 – March 12
Goldfields Arts Centre
July 28 – September 24
Carnarvon Library & Gallery
October 7 – January 21, 2024
Bunbury Regional Art Gallery
2024
February 2 – March 9
Albany Town Hall
This project has been made possible through the Regional Exhibition Touring Boost managed by the Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries, supported by Royalties for Regions and delivered by ART ON THE MOVE and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
