Hoda Afshar, Owen Leong, Simon Harsent, Ray Cook. “Fables of Change” curated by Alasdair Foster at t The world in which we live today is a world of changes. Everything changes, and a barrage of effects links these changes together. Cultural diaspora contributes to an increase in intercontinental traffic, which in its turn causes an increase in atmospheric temperature due to emissions and melting of glaciers. Global migration enriches our people, but it also causes intolerance to anything new or different. The concept of multiculturalism is closely linked with the concept of ethnic stereotypes. Whenever respect and sympathy start to flourish intolerance erupts as if by magic, diverting our attention from what is truly important and sustaining the illusion of unlimited power in us. Changes are the echoes of the extremes: hope and fear, tolerance and persecution, they and us, love and hate, warmth and cold… But there is something that unites all the changes. That is that they all are created by humans. We are initiators of changes of any kind, good or bad and even the worst. We are restless creatures, always seeking for something, heading somewhere, not knowing exactly where and what the end of our undertaking will be. Change is a powerful force that is difficult to grasp with the mind; change is omnipresent and yet strangely elusive. Often some things are easier to understand by reading or hearing about them than by personally experiencing them in their entirety. Each of the four Australian artists participating in this exhibition explores an aspect of our world in constant motion, its tangle of action and reaction, being and non-being. Their images contain statements about the changes in different spheres – personal, social, cultural, environmental. In each case, they approach the question indirectly, in the poetic language of allegory speaking about adaptation, blending, metamorphosis, and dissolution.
The world in which we live today is a world of changes. Everything changes, and a barrage of effects links these changes together. Cultural diaspora contributes to an increase in intercontinental traffic, which in its turn causes an increase in atmospheric temperature due to emissions and melting of glaciers. Global migration enriches our people, but it also causes intolerance to anything new or different. The concept of multiculturalism is closely linked with the concept of ethnic stereotypes. Whenever respect and sympathy start to flourish intolerance erupts as if by magic, diverting our attention from what is truly important and sustaining the illusion of unlimited power in us. Changes are the echoes of the extremes: hope and fear, tolerance and persecution, they and us, love and hate, warmth and cold… But there is something that unites all the changes. That is that they all are created by humans. We are initiators of changes of any kind, good or bad and even the worst. We are restless creatures, always seeking for something, heading somewhere, not knowing exactly where and what the end of our undertaking will be. Change is a powerful force that is difficult to grasp with the mind; change is omnipresent and yet strangely elusive. Often some things are easier to understand by reading or hearing about them than by personally experiencing them in their entirety. Each of the four Australian artists participating in this exhibition explores an aspect of our world in constant motion, its tangle of action and reaction, being and non-being. Their images contain statements about the changes in different spheres – personal, social, cultural, environmental. In each case, they approach the question indirectly, in the poetic language of allegory speaking about adaptation, blending, metamorphosis, and dissolution.