While the weather will prevent us from visiting this International Women’s Day, Ipswich Art Gallery is holding an exhibition celebrating the connection between rural women and the land. One of the invaluable functions of institutions of its kind is providing a forum for fresh new talent. Anthology of memory is a solo presentation by Rachel North, who is currently completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the University of Southern Queensland.
On one hand, the exhibition embraces a post #MeToo shakedown of the sisterhood. For readers finding the concept confusing, films propelling this Zeitgeist include The Substance and The Last Showgirl. A point of difference, however, is North is not directing notions of imperfection at older women. She alludes to a kind of ‘damage’ that could occur at any age. Her intention of addressing the lesser discussed issue of matriarchal oppression has been expressed through an Instagram post.
There are two installations in this exhibition, and the title artwork, an anthology of memory / lingering / in the forgetting (2024) is an exercise in materiality and form. A ‘naturally dyed wool’ fleece is stuck to the ceiling, with beeswax-dipped silk threads falling in varying lengths. The ordinarily comforting combination appears ominous: somewhere between a dark cloud raining and candles set to ignite it. A sense of melancholy and tension is conveyed.
Memory’s shroud occupies the other half of the gallery space. Upon two shelves and several plinths sit containers created from a cacophony of clays. A majority of them are speckled stoneware vases. They’re unadorned, as though tabula rasa in reserve. Empty storage for a memory bank, if you will. The surfaces are substrates upon which marks could be made to distinguish their contents.Â
Forming somewhat of a pyramid, the pieces on plinths are embellished with would-be faults. Blistering, crawling and crazing all appear part of North’s palette. She has reframed from fully hand or slab building expressionistic forms like Peter Voulos.
Proportioned to a woman’s torso, the sculptures seemed to have been birthed as hand-thrown vases. Exercising restraint, the affected aspects are clustered to suggest shrouds of the artwork’s title. It is as though the damage has been decoratively worn. She isn’t prescriptive of the content like Judy Chicago. Transforming the broken into the beautiful, the Japanese principle of wabi sabi may have been among her inspirations.
Through her ceramics and the topography of their surfaces, North holds this lens to rural women. But many others may be drawn to this artwork. The pressure to conceal the creases of life’s complications is widely relatable. The prospect of finding beauty in them has broad appeal.Â
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Although Ipswich Art Gallery is presently closed due to the arrival of Cyclone Alfred, North’s textiles and vessels may be viewed via the Ipswich Art Gallery website.
Rachel North: Anthology of memory is scheduled to be exhibited until 13 April 2025.
Visitors are encouraged to contact the Gallery when the storm passes to see if it’s reopened.
