Reflection & Regeneration Show Opens

Today was the opening of the Reflection & Regeneration show at the World Trade Centre Melbourne gallery. It was a very exciting thing for me, as this was the first time my works have ever been exhibited. After replying to a call for interested artists from the WTC Gallery I saw on Twitter, I sent them samples of my bushfire photos. I was thrilled to hear that they wanted to display my photos, and asked me to send them up to ten high res files.

Imagine my surprise when I attended the launch of the exhibition this morning to see all ten of my photos gloriously printed and displayed on the gallery walls, along with fifty other amazing and moving works of art of all kinds. I learned that 100 artists responded to the call, but only ten were selected. Even more amazing was that ten of the 60 works displayed were mine.

The emotions of the day were very mixed. I was excited and proud to be exhibited, but the subject of the exhibition, and the anniversary of Black Saturday this weekend, along with the shocking nature of some of the photos and other works of art on display, brought me firmly back to earth.

A large number of press, public and important invited guests were in attendance, as well as many of the artists. It was lovely to be thanked by name along with the other artists, and the Victorian Police Commissioner humbled us all with his generous words when he was invited to speak. He commented that throughout history, it has been the artists that have most directly and personally recorded the important events, including our works in that noble tradition. I was fortunate to be able to have a brief chat with the commissioner, and he seemed to be a friendly and honorable man.

There were many cameras and reporters there as well, and though I wasn’t interviewed as several other artists were, the cameramen seemed to like my photos, as more than one of them featured in every television report of the event that night! It was a thrill seeing my work (and myself briefly!) on television. You can see the news reports at the bottom of this page.

I would like to extend a special thank you to Emma Volk from WTC for arranging the exhibition and including me.

The works exhibited are all marvellous, and if you are in Melbourne between now and the 11th of March, I highly recommend you make the time to visit the exhibition and see them for yourself. You can find the details here.

Update

A new video report from SBS on the gallery has gone online: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1187462/Artists-share-bushfire-visions

Mum sent me a photo she took of me chatting with the Police commissioner.