Fiona Rafferty

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Home / Timeline / 2015 / November
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Essay Published November 18, 2015

MEDIA RELEASE - REMINISCENCE - A TRIBUTE TO JUDITH WRIGHT

Celebrating 100 years of Australian visionary Judith Wright. Reminiscence - A Festival of Judith Wright, comes to the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, 420 Brunswick St., Fortitude Valley, on Saturday 5 December, starting at 1pm. Read more

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Album Published November 17, 2015

2010 - ETHEL CREEK STATION, PILBARA (1 new item)

In 2010 Rafferty spent 4 months in residence on Ethel Creek Station in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The scale of the landscape was vast and imbued with the rich colour of the largely mineral earth. Rafferty incorporated rich oxides and red dust from the region in her work and spent time exploring the effects of pouring paint directly onto the canvas in the landscape.

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Essay Published November 17, 2015

INVITATION - REMINISCENCE - 5 DECEMBER 2015

Flying Arts Alliance warmly invites you to Reminiscence: A Festival of Judith Wright Reminiscence is a one day festival of ideas celebrating the centenary of Wright’s birth, and launches a month long exhibition of the same name. The festival showcases… Read more

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Album Published November 15, 2015

2015 REMINISCENCE - A TRIBUTE TO JUDITH WRIGHT 5 December 2015 - 15 January 2016 (1 new item)

100 years – reminiscing on the legacy of Judith Wright at the Judy. Artists Fiona Rafferty and Frances Smith commemorate the centenary of the birth of Australian writer, poet and activist Judith Wright in Reminiscence, an exhibition coming to The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts on 5 December 2015. Reminiscence comprises works on paper, and ceramic works by Rafferty and Smith that respond to Judith Wright’s work as a writer, poet, environmentalist, and advocate of human rights. Rafferty was inspired to create a body of work to commemorate Judith Wright when she spent five months living at Calanthe, Judith Wright’s former home on Tamborine Mountain. Rafferty says, “The issues that Judith fought for—such as indigenous land rights and protecting the Great Barrier Reef—are issues that are still relevant today; through this exhibition we celebrate and continue her work in an effort to inspire the generations that proceed her”. Flying Arts has selected five emerging curators to work under the banner of ‘Curators in Space’ to curate Reminiscence and develop public programs and learning resources that invite participants of all ages to engage with Judith Wright’s life and work.

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Essay Published November 11, 2015

REMINISCENCE - ARTIST STATEMENT

In 2013, I spent five months living in the former home of Judith Wright on Tamborine Mountain." Calanthe" was the home she shared with philosopher, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith, and Tamborine mountain is her final resting place. Read more

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Album Published November 2, 2015

2009 - MUKINBUDIN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Mukinbudin is a small town in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia. In 2009, the Shire of Mukinbudin awarded Rafferty a residency to produce work reflecting the Shire environment. She produced a series of photographs and a sculpture created from an old water tank

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Album Published November 2, 2015

2010 - ETHEL CREEK STATION, PILBARA

In 2010 Rafferty spent 4 months in residence on Ethel Creek Station in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The scale of the landscape was vast and imbued with the rich colour of the largely mineral earth. Rafferty incorporated rich oxides and red dust from the region in her work and spent time exploring the effects of pouring paint directly onto the canvas in the landscape.

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Album Published November 2, 2015

2008 SNOWDONIA, WALES (2 new items)

Rafferty spent 2008/9 in London studying Art on a Student Exchange Scholarship. She spent extended periods of time in the London Underground Museum and Snowdonia National Park, Wales. Rafferty was included in "Shoot London" at Tate Modern and also in the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane graduates exhibition. Her work in the Snowdonia Series was acquired by Middlesex University for its permanent Collection.

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Content Published November 2, 2015

salt-lake-burning.jpg

SONY DSC

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Content Published November 2, 2015

Snowdonia MapsArtist Book

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Content Published November 2, 2015

Artist Book - detail

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Album Published November 1, 2015

2015 REMINISCENCE - A TRIBUTE TO JUDITH WRIGHT 5 December 2015 - 15 January 2016 (10 new items)

100 years – reminiscing on the legacy of Judith Wright at the Judy. Artists Fiona Rafferty and Frances Smith commemorate the centenary of the birth of Australian writer, poet and activist Judith Wright in Reminiscence, an exhibition coming to The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts on 5 December 2015. Reminiscence comprises works on paper, and ceramic works by Rafferty and Smith that respond to Judith Wright’s work as a writer, poet, environmentalist, and advocate of human rights. Rafferty was inspired to create a body of work to commemorate Judith Wright when she spent five months living at Calanthe, Judith Wright’s former home on Tamborine Mountain. Rafferty says, “The issues that Judith fought for—such as indigenous land rights and protecting the Great Barrier Reef—are issues that are still relevant today; through this exhibition we celebrate and continue her work in an effort to inspire the generations that proceed her”. Flying Arts has selected five emerging curators to work under the banner of ‘Curators in Space’ to curate Reminiscence and develop public programs and learning resources that invite participants of all ages to engage with Judith Wright’s life and work.

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Content Published November 1, 2015

Working on Calanthe in Murwillumbah, NSW

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 6

Drawing

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 9

Drawing

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 8

Drawing

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 7

Drawing

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 5

Drawing

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 4

Drawing

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 3

Drawing and printing

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 1

Judith Wright was called the “Conscience of My Country” for many reasons, particularly her relentless pursuit of environmental concerns and indigenous rights. Her voice, through her writing, became the voice of the people caring for the land and its first people. “Conscience of My Country” is the work that I feel represents the way Judith felt about our country, the landscape and the effects of mining on areas of great beauty. I wanted to create a work on a scale that is commensurate with the magnitude of mine-sites, and the scale of the BHP owned Mt Whaleback mine-site in the Pilbara, the basis for this work, is staggering. It is more than 5kms long, 1.5kms wide and will be mined to a depth of half a kilometre. The sheer amount of earth shifted and set aside as tailings, morphs into a manufactured landscape. The first panel in “Conscience of My Country” was started in 2010 in response to the mining boom in Western Australia and the seemingly endless migration of people seeking their fortune by extracting minerals from our landscape. I spent time on a vast cattle station in the Pilbara, WA, working with farmers and miners who are now sharing the land as they work side by side, mustering and mining. Once the domain of graziers, the Pilbara has become a mecca for the fortune hunters of today. The final panel was completed in 2015 during much publicity about the Shenhua mine on the East Coast. We are not immune to the cause and effect that the rise and rise of the new Chinese economy has created, nor can we readily and freely admit that our conscience is clear. The latest threat, Shenhua, a proposed coal mine on the fertile, Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah, NSW, is testament to the greed of governments where the landscape becomes the sacrificial lamb in the face of development. It is also testament to the power of people, like Wright, who stand up for the environment and give it a voice.

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Content Published November 1, 2015

CONSCIENCE OF MY COUNTRY 2

Drawing and printing

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View timeline by month
Featured albums

  • Opening Reminiscence Exhibition and Festival at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts- 5 December 2015

  • 2015 REMINISCENCE - A TRIBUTE TO JUDITH WRIGHT 5 December 2015 - 15 January 2016

  • 2013 - TAMBORINE MOUNTAIN, QLD

  • 2010 - ETHEL CREEK STATION, PILBARA

  • 2009 - MUKINBUDIN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

  • 2008 SNOWDONIA, WALES

Featured essays

  • 2016 ADELAIDE PERRY DRAWING PRIZE  "SALINITY"  FINALIST

    Finalists announced in the 2016 Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize. Rafferty's drawing "Salinity" is a finalist in this year's prize. The winner of the $25,000 a acquisitive award will be announced on 26 February at a gala opening in Sydney/ Read more

  • 2016 WATERHOUSE NATURAL SCIENCE PRIZE "SHELLACKED" - FINALIST

    The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize was launched in 2002 and commemorates the birth of the South Australian Museum’s first curator, Frederick George Waterhouse. The prize is an opportunity for artists to investigate the world around them, and… Read more

  • NANCY FAIRFAX STUDIO RESIDENCY - Tweed River Art Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre - September 2017

    In September 2017 Rafferty spent two weeks as Artist in Residence at the Tweed River Art Gallery and Margaret Olley Centre in the Nancy Fairfax studio. Her current work relates to the view of Mt Warning from the studio. Read more

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