Beneath the Surface
Solo exhibition, Capalaba Gallery Space, Redland Art Gallery, January 2020
This exhibition is a reimagining and renaming of the exhibition Internal Landscapes shown at Logan Art Gallery 2019. The curators at Redlands had a much smaller space and only walls and ceiling to show the works. It was exceptionally well presented with key works from Internal Landscapes.
Ground-breaking advances in neuroscience are the predominant inspiration for this exhibition. Contemporary imaging technologies permit internal biology to be externally displayed; I wish to likewise visually represent the unseen, inner workings of the body, while referencing the complimentary and compelling relationship between visual art and medical science.
Textile art shares terminologies with scientific nomenclature, like ‘cables,’ ‘braiding,’ and ‘fibres,’ in adjunct to the visual, geometric structure of textiles resembling biological structures like tissues and systems of specialised cells. ‘Self-similar’ replication, in which small, branching patterns comprise and resemble larger ones, is another trait shared by my chosen media and the internal landscape of the body.
The Exhibition comprised of multiple installations, interactive sculptures, encased objects and framed images will collectively express the sameness and simultaneity of structures in nature on the micro and macro scales. Metaphysical enquiry is another facet of Internal Landscapes conceptually; the puzzling irony of how science constantly expands our knowledge while alerting us to our relative ignorance about what we are unable to (yet) perceive.
Texture
Solo exhibition, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, February 2023
Texture features both local and interstate, emerging and established, female textile and fibre artists that push their materials past their boundaries, with artworks that invite us to question, examine and explore all that textiles can do and be.
Contemporary Art Space, draws visitors in with twinkling lights, soft tones and tactile nature. These playful textiles by Brisbane – based Chrys Zantis represent neurons, and are part of a larger body of work titled Internal Landscapes (2018), investigating the inner workings of the body.
Contrary to most gallery outlines, these works are meant to be touched and interacted with, bringing delight to gallery visitors. Three ‘Cuddle Neurons”, in tones of grey, blue, cream and mustard, were created specifically to embrace. Their long dendrite ‘arms’ designed to cuddle you back, eliciting the love hormone oxytocin. The “Mother Neuron” and her three “neuron babies” dominate the gallery wall, their heavy wool dendrites reaching out to one another while subtle, small lights within each structure glow and fade, mimicking the electric impulses being transmitted through the brain and body.