College of Fine Arts | The University of New South Wales - Sydney - Australia

The Resilient Landscape | The College of Fine Arts

The Resilient Landscape

When:    Nov 22, 2007  -  Dec 22, 2007
Artist(s): Exhibition includes: Marian Abboud, Murmur Ahmed, Roukyh Akkawi, Mireille Astore, Ali Cherry, Farah Fayed, Zena el-Khalil, Phillip George, Tim Gregory, Mezan Kerbaj, Fatima Mawas, Elaine Raheb, John Rodsted, Khaled Sababi, Jalal Toufic - Film Program includes: Maher Abi Samra, Cherine Debs-Harfouche, Nadine Ghanem, Joanne Issa, Hisham Jaber, Rania Majed, Mirna Nassar, Wael Nourreddine, Rania Rafei, Halim Sabbagh, Rana Salem, Myriam Sassine, Corine Shaw
Curated by: Phillip George, David McNeill and Khaled Sabsabi
Additional Information: Schedule of Events Friday 23 November 2007 - Workshop 11am - 2pm COFA Lecture Theatre EG02, Film Program 2.30 - 5.30pm COFA Lecture Theatre EG02, Exhibition Opening 5.30 - 7.30pm Ivan Dougherty Gallery. The exhibition will be opened by Paula Abood, a respected film maker, writer, community cultural development worker and activist. There will be an additional address by Mirna Nassar, a participating artist who was resident in Lebanon during the Israeli attack.
Photographic print by Jalal Toufic
Jalal Toufic The Ashura (no 2) 2005 c type photographic print 26 x 34 cm courtesy and © the artist

The Resilient Landscape is a potent mix of art and politics. With both the Federal election and the second anniversary of the Cronulla riots just around the corner, it's the perfect time to consider Australia's place in the world as well as our problems at home.

The Resilient Landscape presents found objects, video and photo media artworks by Lebanese and Australian artists which explore violent conflict and simmering tensions in both the Middle East and on Sydney's suburban beaches.

Curators Phillip George, David McNeill and Khaled Sabsabi use confrontational artworks to draw parallels between Lebanon and Australia. As George, who is also exhibiting in The Resilient Landscape, points out, "Lebanon is like a little red hot chilli pepper. It's a tiny place; a concentrated, explosive example of what's happening in global geo-politics... It could be a model of anywhere else. You could actually say Lebanon is all of us in a lot of ways."

According to McNeill, "The true fears and doubts of any nation state become particularly and painfully visible at its borders rather than in some notional centre, and if this is true at the border of Lebanon and Israel (occupied Palestine), it is also true on the sand and surf of our eastern seaboard."

For more informaton please contact Ivan Dougherty Gallery