One Foot on the Ground,
One Foot in the Water:
La Trobe Art Institute, Bendigo
One Foot on the Ground, One Foot in the Water (2020) is a group exhibition at La Trobe Art Institute exploring death and dying as a state of transition. Presenting processes of making as a means of facing mortality, both collectively and individually, the exhibition attempts to start conversations that normalise experiences of death and dying, delving into ideas around loss, mortality, impermanence, transcendence, remembrance, memorialisation and a range of grief narratives that help us make sense of death. Curated by Travis Curtin, the exhibition features artists including Catherine Bell, Timothy Cook + Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri, French & Mottershead, Mabel Juli, Richard Lewer, Michael Needham, Nell and Mr Wunuŋmurra, with a photo essay by Sara Morawetz. Each exhibiting artist provides a highly unique, engaging and sensitive approach towards our shared mortal condition, exemplifying the way art can help us learn to better live with death. Narratives about the origins of mortality feature across many different cultures and One Foot attempts to break away from the Eurocentric understandings that have been represented prolifically throughout the Western Classical tradition. Instead, it focuses its attention more locally on some of the grief narratives and processes of making embraced by contemporary Indigenous artists from Tiwi (Timothy Cook + Patrick Freddy Puruntatameri), Gija (Mabel Juli) and Yolngu cultures (Mr Wunuŋmurra). One Foot on the Ground, One Foot in the Water will run from November 3, 2020 to January 17, 2021.
NOTE: The dates provided are current and speculative. Many Australian and international arts organisations remain closed in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions. Please refer to institutional websites for further details.
