The Art Gallery of Western Australia is presenting largest-ever ensemble of collected glass and mixed-media works in Australia by internationally recognised Kokatha and Nukunu artist Yhonnie Scarce, as part of the Perth Festival 2024.
One of the country’s leading contemporary artists, Scarce is known for her large-scale, unforgettable glass installations that bring to light some of the darkest shadows of Australia’s past.
Chandeliers of glass yams will be hung in the gallery spaces, representing narratives driven by the impact of nuclear testing in Australia on First Nations people, including the artist’s family.
Scarce’s practice and works more broadly deal with the impact of colonisation on First Nations people in Australia and globally, by utilising archival imagery from her personal photographic collection and found objects.
AGWA Director Colin Walker said Scarce’s exhibition, with its urgent narratives detailing the personal impacts of uranium mining and nuclear destruction, couldn’t be more timely.
“It is a privilege to present Scarce’s solo survey at AGWA to international audiences as part of the Perth Festival. Her fiercely intellectual and uncompromising narratives of the impacts of nuclear testing and colonisation are critical and relevant for audiences today,” said Walker.
“Having recently exhibited at The Armory Show, New York, IKON Gallery in Birmingham and Palais de Tokyo, Paris, I’m delighted we are now presenting Scarce’s considered, nuanced and stunning works at AGWA.”
Set over three gallery spaces and presenting sculptural glass works, mixed-media works, installations, and photography, the exhibition includes key works produced across Scarce’s career from the early 2000s to the present day.
AGWA Head of Indigenous Programs and Curator Clothilde Bullen says there is also a lightness and contemplative hopefulness to be found – an honest and healing light – integral to the exhibition experience.
“It’s an exhibition where works reveal and acknowledge historic hurts, but I also want people to enjoy the scale and artistry of Scarce’s work. Yhonnie Scarce is unique in the Australian contemporary art space to be working at scale, interpreting tough narratives around the impacts of nuclear testing, indentured labour and the dual lens of science and racism upon First Nations people.
“It is possible to appreciate the beauty of the work and be challenged by the stories behind them,” Bullen said.
Yhonnie Scarce: The Light of Day opens exclusively at The Art Gallery of Western Australia on 2 February and runs until 19 May 2024.
Image: Andrew Curtis
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