“Watching”
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah and Anna Louise Richardson
14 May → 10 July 2022
Watching is a collaboration between Abdul-Rahman Abdullah and Anna Louise Richardson, presented as part of the West Space Commission Program.
Watching embodies the sensation of being approached, watched or singled out by animals, either wild or domestic, and the emotive resonance of these moments - reflecting ideas of death, fear and preternatural communication with the natural world.
Developed by partners raising a young family in a rural environment, the exhibition builds on the artists' shared experiences to articulate a personal lore that voices their relationships with other living creatures. Renewing mythologies about the cyclical processes of life Watching embraces both the magical thinking of childhood and the pragmatism of living in close proximity to nature.
Watching is a West Space Commission, supported by the Australia Council for the Arts: Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups, and Regional Arts Fellowship (WA).
Programs
Woollen Loops, Chains and Links, Sunday 15 May, 11am
Crochet Workshop with Jill Paynter-O'Meehan & Holly O'Meehan of Golden Wattle Hookers
Artist Talk, Sunday 15 May, 2.30pm
A family friendly discussion with Abdul-Rahman Abdullah & Anna Louise Richardson
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah is a West Australian artist whose practice explores the different ways that memory can inhabit and emerge from familial spaces. Drawing on the narrative capacity of animal archetypes, crafted objects and the human presence, Abdul-Rahman aims to articulate physical dialogues between the natural world, identity and the agency of culture. Living and working in rural Western Australia, he provides unique perspectives across intersecting communities, foregrounding shared understandings of individual identity and new mythologies in a cross-cultural context.
Anna Louise Richardson is an artist and freelance curator investigating rural Australian identity and associated mythologies. Richardson works primarily in charcoal and graphite on cement fibreboard, using a realistic approach, flattened perspective, cut-out shapes and manipulated scale to amplify the subject matter. The complexities of human relationships with the natural world and the intergenerational qualities of these relationships are driving themes throughout her practice.