Free

Gold Coast Art and Practice: Here and Now and Beyond

Here and Now: Gold Coast Triennial Public Program

Sat 23 Nov

Gold Coast Art and Practice: Here and Now and Beyond

What does it take to build and sustain an arts practice on the Gold Coast? Hear from three local arts practitioners from Here and Now: Gold Coast Triennial living the dream!

Artists Kuweni Dias Mendes and Sebastian Moody will be in conversation with HOTA Gallery Senior Curator Julie McLaren. They will discuss the influence of the Gold Coast on their respective art and practices considering the allure and realities of having careers on and beyond the Gold Coast.

Dates

Sat 23 Nov

Where

Gallery 1

Duration

1 hr 30 mins

Tickets

Free, registration required

Times

Sat 23 November - 11:00am

#Artist Bios

Kuweni Dias Mendis

Kuweni Dias Mendis is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Sri Lanka and has been based in Australia since 1999. Her practice reflects on place, culture and identity through the lens of diasporic experience, working across raw mark making, Yantra (symbolic drawing from ritual art in Sri Lanka), installation, performance and film.

Her artistic approach is deeply influenced by her hybrid cultural experiences between both Sri Lanka and australia. Intersecting regenerative practice, arts activism, and cultural facilitation, Kuweni uses ritual and ceremony as vessels for her artistic manifestations.

As a migrant woman of colour on unceded lands, she uses her voice to advocate for and amplify the experiences of marginalised women through collaborative artworks, exhibitions, and participatory experiences.

Sebastian Moody

Sebastian Moody’s artworks draw on words in their presentation and aesthetic. His use of ambiguity and multiple meanings prompt the viewer to consider both what we think and why. Born in Sydney in 1979, Moody currently lives and works in Brisbane where he completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at QUT (2001) and a Master of Museum Studies at The University of Queensland (2009).

Moody’s projects have appeared at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane), Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane), Brisbane International Airport, New York Art Book Fair (New York), Queensland Performing Arts Centre (Brisbane), Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (Sydney), Splendour in the Grass (Byron Bay), Next Wave Festival 2008 (Melbourne), Bus Projects (Melbourne), Firstdraft (Sydney), VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery (Melbourne), Tin Sheds Gallery (University of Sydney), Melbourne Art Book Fair, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts (Melbourne), Bundaberg Arts Centre (Queensland), Museum of Brisbane, The Goodwill Bridge (Brisbane), QUT Art Museum (Brisbane), UQ Art Museum (Brisbane), and Southbank Parklands (Brisbane).

#Curator Bio

Julie McLaren

Julie McLaren is Senior Curator at HOTA, Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast. She has close to twenty years of experience in the gallery and museum sector, with previous roles held at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, the National Museum of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archives. As Curator of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Julie curated more than fifty historic and contemporary exhibitions, and implemented major commissions with artists such as Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Sally Smart and Fiona Hall. Julie’s passion is for working collaboratively with artists, public collections and communities to elevate voices and stories which have been previously marginalised, overlooked and hidden.