Kawing, a Tagalog word meaning link in chain, was a response to the request from the Philippines to focus on regional centres rather than just Manila, so Cebu, Baguio, Davao and Puerto Princesa were selected as sites for four Northern Territory to visit and create site-specfic work.
This collaboration toured to Bagiuo, Cebu, Darwin, Davao, Manila, Negros, Palawan, Puerto Princesa, Simpocan (2001 - 2002).
CURATOR: Cath Bowdler
ARTISTS: Dennis Bezzant, Jacki Fleet, Winsome Jobling, Techy Masero
TOUR: Manila, Davao, Bagiuo, Cebu, Negros, Puerto Princesa, Darwin (2001-2002)
Techy Masero
Techy Masero was born in Chile in 1954 and came to live in Darwin in 1985. She works primarily in cane and other natural materials on a monumental scale and her works are instantly recognisable in NT as an integral part of outdoor festivals and community events. She is concerned with mythologies of place and has interwoven her own conceptual concerns into the many large public commissions she has undertaken. Masero has developed a longstanding relationship with Filipino community groups in Darwin and during her time in the Philippines she is working in Simpocan, 45 kilometers southwest of Puerto Princesa on the resort Island of Palawan. Together with a team of local artisans she will work for two months to create a large, ephemeral outdoor sculpture on the beach. Her visit is being auspiced by Galeri Kanarikutan, a space which, like Masero's work, is entirely made of indigenous materials.
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Winsome Jobling
Winsome Jobling was born in Sydney in 1957 and moved to Darwin in 1982. Jobling creates huge paper installations and sculptural forms which extend traditional notions of papermaking. She has been exhibiting since 1981 and her practice is linked to the environment for both political and physical reasons. She recycles used paper and looks for alternatives, such as local banana fibre, to the finite resource of wood pulp. Jobling's recent work has consisted of oversized dresses, patterned with watermarks and stencils dwarfed viewers yet remained fragile and translucent. She exhibited on arrival at the University of the Philippines in Diliman and undertook the Luis Stuart Paper Workshop Tiaong Quezon in early December. Later she will work in Baguio City and will exhibit from 17-21 December at the Botanical Gardens Gallery there.
Dress Ups
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Dennis Bezzant
Dennis Bezzant is an emerging artist with extensive connections with Sarawak, Malaysia. He completed his undergraduate studies in 1998 and received the 24HR Art Graduate Prize. Dennis' sculptural installations are based around notions of weaving both physically and metaphorically, as in inter-cultural meshing. His interest in combining traditions of Celtic weaving with those of Malaysian indigenous traditions conceptually underpins his work. In the Philippines Dennis is working with the internationally established artist, Bert Monterona in Davao, taking workshops with underprivileged children and will exhibit his work at Dugukan Gallery from 16 December.
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Jacki Fleet
Jacki Fleet is a well-established Darwin painter who has engaged in detailed investigations into the dichotomies of landscape/country in the Top End. In forming significant relationships with Aboriginal artists in the Kimberley much or her recent work has centred around the motif of the flying ant. Jackie will travel to Cebu in January 2002 to work at Gallery Luna, an exciting artist run space there, as well as with the local Mardi Gras.
Fire Dance