The Delmar Gallery
Since 1969 the Delmar Gallery has brought Australian contemporary art and cultural events to Sydney’s inner west.
The Delmar Gallery
Since 1969 the Delmar Gallery has brought Australian contemporary art and cultural events to Sydney’s inner west.
About The Delmar Gallery

The Delmar Gallery was established as part of Trinity Grammar School’s Society of the Arts. It is open to the public with free admission to all exhibitions.
Curator: Catherine Benz
Due to COVID-related restrictions, Delmar Gallery is open by appointment only, Wednesday to Sunday, 12-5pm. Please email delmargallery@trinity.nsw.edu.au to arrange a time for your visit.
To help stop the spread of COVID-19, access to NSW school campuses is restricted.
144 Victoria Street Ashfield NSW 2131
p. + 61 2 9581 6070
e. delmargallery@trinity.nsw.edu.au
Past Exhibition

Breaking Silent Codes began in 2018 as a three-day conference of First Nations women from Australia and the Pacific, who came together to share cultural and spiritual responses to the issue of sexual assault and family violence, and discuss the barriers that prevent women from speaking out.
Women’s justice advocate Dixie Link Gordon invited photographer Belinda Mason to document the conference. From it emerged this arresting group of portraits and words, which captures the power of listening and sharing as a catalyst for change, and celebrates inner strength and resilience.
A featured exhibition in Head On Photo Festival 2020.
“We need to own our own stories and come together to appreciate each other and listen. Violence hurts, it hurts society, it hurts families and it hurts you and I.”
– Dixie Link Gordon
Project space
An installation of natural fibre weaving & limited edition prints by Nadeena Dixon
Exhibition dates: 11 – 29 November, 2020
Exhibition opening: Sunday 15 November, RSVP essential via trybooking.com/BMMUZ
Numbers are limited to ensure a COVID-safe environment.
Visit the exhibition
Delmar Gallery is open by appointment only, Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm. To arrange your visit, please email your preferred date and time to delmargallery@trinity.nsw.edu.au or phone 9581 6070.
Image: Portrait of Dixie Link Gordon by Belinda Mason
Virtual Exhibition

Presented by Delmar Gallery as part of Head On(line) Photo Festival in May 2020, Clothes for Death is an ongoing portrait series by Polish photographer Anna Bedyńska.
Walk through the virtual exhibition, zoom in on the images and click on the videos to hear Bedyńska share her subjects’ stories, the project’s genesis and her reflections on the role of a documentary photographer today.
Bedyńska’s photographic practice engages with societal changes, documenting customs as they wane or new norms as they emerge.
During her travels through rural Poland as a press photographer, Bedyńska had the opportunity to meet elderly people who still observed the traditional practice of carefully selecting and setting aside clothes that they wished to be buried in. They invited her into their homes, laid out the clothes for her to photograph and explained the significance of the items they had chosen.
To her surprise, she discovered that these conversations about death were full of life, and was struck by how this vanishing custom had the effect of ‘taming’ death for those who practised it.
Image: Anna, from the series Clothes for Death by Anna Bedyńska
Past Exhibitions and Concerts
Print Culture
Artist print collectives from Indonesia and Australia. Featuring offset lithographs from Big Fag Press (Sydney), Batik from Frog House (Yogyakarta), screenprints from Krack! (Yogyakarta) and vinylcuts, linocuts and etchings from UMI Arts (Cairns). Curated by Catherine Benz.
Image: Teho Ropeyarn, “Mandang Ikamba (strength of a crocodile)” 2012 (detail), vinylcut, 200 x 87cm. Courtesy of UMI Arts.
Exhibition Opening: Saturday 21 November, 3-5pm
Exhibition Dates: 22 November – 6 December, 2015
Gallery Open: 12pm-5pm Wednesday to Sunday throughout this time period
Free Admission
Street Stories
This year’s edition of Delmar Gallery’s popular summer exhibition embraces the theme of urbanity and the urbane, from the whimsical to the sublime! Including ceramics, video, painting and more by artist from Sydney and Melbourne.
Exhibiting artists:
Tarik Ahlip • Priscilla Bourne • Penelope Cain • Chris Casali • Tony Costa • Chris Dolman • Lucienne Fontannaz • Gilbert Grace • Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison • Jennifer Hardy • Peter Hardy Kasane Low • Dean Manning • Kevin Mckay • Gaspare Moscone • Kenzee Patterson • Anton Pulvirenti • Andrew Purvis • Troy Quinleven • Barbara Tuckerman • Samuel Tupou • Paul Williams • Sandra Winkworth
Image: Dean Manning, “Speaker”, 2011, oil on board, 35 x 25cm
Exhibition Opening: Saturday 21 November, 3-5pm
Exhibition Dates: 22 November – 6 December, 2015
Gallery Open: 12pm-5pm Wednesday to Sunday throughout this time period
Free Admission
Janusz Wawrowski
A virtuoso with the deep-souled tone of a poet — HUFFINGTON POST
Hailed as “one of Poland’s brightest young talents” (Strings), virtuoso violinist Janusz Wawrowski is held in the highest regard for his “utmost artistry and musical conviction” (The Strad).
As a very young student, he shot to prominence with an extraordinary performance in one evening of all 24 Caprices by Paganini, which he recorded in 2007 as his first CD. In 2013 he signed a multi-year contract with Warner Music and will be recording next year with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
He will be coming to Sydney on the invitation of Kambala, and we are thrilled he has agreed to give this recital at the conclusion of his visit.
Date: Wednesday 26 November, 7.30pm
Venue: Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
Tickets: from $20 / FREE for Trinity students & Society of the Arts members.
Remembering Sculthorpe: Works for Solo Piano
Acclaimed concert pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska presents a moving and evocative recital of works by Peter Sculthorpe spanning seven decades. From his earliest work for solo piano,Nocturne (1945) through to his last, Riverina (2011), this program takes us on the journey of his remarkable career. Unique and unforgettable, Sculthorpe’s imagery is that of a composer, a dreamer, and a man with an incomparable understanding of our land, our people and our hearts.
In 2014, ABC Classics released Cislowska’s double CD, Peter Sculthorpe: Complete Works for Solo Piano, deemed ‘Recording of the Month’ in BBC Music Magazine, and described as ‘a profoundly affecting release’ by Gramophone magazine. At the age of 14, Cislowska met Sculthorpe for the first time and performed his Piano Concerto with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and so began a lifelong friendship. Cislowska was Sculthorpe’s choice for the recording of this CD.
Proudly presented by Trinity Grammar School’s Society of the Arts as part of its 2015 Concert Series.
Date: Thursday 15 October, 7.30pm
Venue: The Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
Tickets: $30/$20 conc & seniors / $75 family of four / Free for Trinity Students & Society of the Arts Members
Sibo Bangoura & Friends
Take an exhilarating musical journey through West Africa with the charismatic Sibo Bangoura (Guinea) and his band on Wednesday 2 September: an evening of traditional song and dance, rich melody and high energy percussion!
Born into a Griot family in Guinea, Sibo truly has rhythm and music are in his blood. As a “Griot”, or traditional storyteller and musician, he is responsible for passing on cultural traditions to the next generation. With Sibo on djembe and kora, the line-up features members of his band Keyim Ba including celebrated Senegalese percussionist Yacou MBaye on doun doun, sabar and congas, Jon Pease on lead guitar, the funky bass lines of Tina Harris and dancer Rachel Bangoura completing the picture.
Slow Burn
Opening Saturday 3-5pm
Fire in mythology and culture curated by Catherine Benz and featuring works by Jacqueline Gothe, Firesticks with UTS Design, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, Euan Macleod, Djambawa Marawili, Mandy Martin, Rerrkirrwanga Munungurr, Trent Parke, Mike Parr, Kharma Phuntsok, Ajay Sharma, Jeannette Siebols, Maxie Tjampitjinpa, Hossein Valamanesh, Justine Varga, Lachlan Warner and Barrupu Yunupingu
Opening Saturday 20 June, 3-5pm. All welcome!
Exhibition continues to 26 July.
Gallery hours: Wednesday to Sunday 12-5pm.
Free admission.
Home: New Photography from Greece
Home will be on from Saturday 9 May, 3pm, and comes all the way from Thessaloniki, Greece to its only Australian venue. We are honoured to have the Greek Ambassador, Mr Dafaranos and his wife, come up from Canberra to officially open Home: New Photography from Greece. It will run until Sunday 7 June 2015.
Home has been co-curated by Jacob Aue Sobol of Magnum Photos and the Photography Centre of Thessaloniki in Greece. The exhibition raises profound questions about the meaning of home – what defines the environment that home represents? Is it possible to portray your own feeling of home in an unfamiliar setting?
Twenty-one Greek photographers were invited to participate in a five-day workshop with Mr Sobol in the northern hemisphere summer of 2013. At the workshop, the photographers were tasked with photographing the idea of ‘home’ in an unfamiliar environment – the small village of Lafkos, a place where none of the photographers had been before.
“Home is a place of memories. It is where we have our roots. It is a place we keep returning to. If we want to learn more about ourselves and the world we live in, this is where we look – in our own backyard. The place where our personality is shaped and dreams are built,” Mr Sobol said.
This free exhibition features over 70 photographs that were captured during the workshop and over the following months. After a successful showing in Thessaloniki in February, Trinity Grammar School’s Delmar Gallery is thrilled to have the opportunity to present these compelling images to an Australian audience.
Orava Quartet
“warmth of sound, sublime inner-voicing and spontaneity” – Sydney Morning Herald
We are delighted to present the Orava Quartet in recital at Delmar Gallery on Thursday 28 May, 7.30pm. Rising stars of the chamber music world, the Brisbane-based quartet was mentored in Colorado by the Takács Quartet and received the Musica Viva Australia Tony Berg Award for the most outstanding Australian ensemble. Featuring: Daniel Kowalik (violin), Karol Kowalik (cello), David Dalseno (violin) and Thomas Chawner (viola). PROGRAMME Beethoven – String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op.18 No.4 Tchaikovsky – String Quartet no. 1 in D major, Op. 11
London Klezmer Quartet (UK)
“all the earthiness, profound melancholy and celebratory joy you could desire” – Sydney Morning Herald
We are delighted to welcome back the London Klezmer Quartet after their sell-out concert at Delmar Gallery on Tuesday 24 March as part of their first Australian tour. Their music taps traditional and original melodies in the spirit of the Jewish minstrels who have performed in Eastern Europe for hundreds of years. From sultry Romanian doynes to fiery freylekhs, the band blends celebration and soul in a musical fusion that sparkles with life! This is truly a concert that will captivate audiences of all ages, from 9 to 90! Limited seating, book early to avoid disappointment.
The Night Parrot
Hayden Fowler Mandy Martin David Watson
Curated by Catherine Benz
Join us for the exhibition opening Saturday 14 March, 3pm with an opening address by Alexandra de Blas, award-winning environmental journalist
The exhibition continues to 19 April. Gallery hours Wednesday to Sunday, 12-5pm
Marcello Maio and Phil Stack
In a rare collaboration especially for the Society of the Arts, accordionist, composer and musical director Marcello Maio will be performing at Delmar Gallery with double bass player Phil Stack on 17 February. Maio is a true ‘musician’s musician’, whose flair and facility has seen him range from a season with the Song Company to the Australian tour of Atlanta soul artist Cody ChestnuTT plus regular appearances with his own jazz trio. In Roland Peelman’s words (director of the Song Company), “Marcello can do anything!”
Stack is a previous winner of the National Jazz Awards, a founding member of multi-platinum rock/pop group Thirsty Merc and in demand for studio and live performances around the world. He began touring with legendary trumpeter James Morrison at the age of 19, after winning the James Morrison Scholarship when he graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium.
Drawing on Maio’s original jazz compositions along with celebrated works by Piazzolla and Jobim, classic French musette and standards, expect an evening of dramatic, chamberlike sound, a keen sense of rhythmic interest and exquisite improvisation! The recital will be a little over an hour in duration, and light refreshments will be served afterwards, when you will also have the chance to meet the musicians.
Homelands
All are welcome to attend the opening of our first exhibition “Homelands” at Delmar Gallery tomorrow (31 January at 3.30pm running until 1 March). As well as viewing the exhibition, you can meet the artists and hear an opening address at 3.30pm by Mr Simon Chan. Mr Chan is Director of Simon Chan & Associates Architects, a firm he established in 1987. In 2009, he founded Art Atrium Gallery to exhibit contemporary Australian, Asian and Aboriginal art with a special focus on cross cultural collaboration and expression in art. He was the recipient of the inaugural NSW Premier’s Multicultural Award for Arts & Culture (2013). He is also President of the Haymarket Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of the Australian Chinese Community Association and Co-Principal Sponsor of the Paddington Art Prize.
The works in the exhibition range from symbolist charcoal drawings and a graphic novel by Anton Pulvirenti, telling the story of the artist’s Italian grandfather’s internment during WWII; a poetic, short film by Zheng Zheqing about his quest to make sense of a new culture and place, acclimatising to Sydney as an international student; to a monumental sculpture by Ingrid van der Aa representing the artist’s Dutch and Australian identities.
Also included are impressive drawings by Abdullah M. I. Syed, layered prints by Lucienne Fontannaz and sculpture Merryn Hull. The six artists have either just completed or are finishing PhD and Masters degrees at the National Art School, Sydney College of the Arts and UNSW Art & Design. Abdullah Syed exhibits regularly in New York, Karachi and Dubai, and has participated in many group exhibitions since moving to Sydney five years ago. Lucienne Fontannaz, Merryn Hull and Ingrid van der Aa have had previous careers as a curator, architect and counsellor respectively. Anton Pulvirenti is one of the last practitioners of the art of Sicilian cart painting and is represented by Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney. Zheng Zheqing is practising as an artist in Shanghai.
Soul of a city: Modernism and Sydney Photographer 1930-1950
17 May – 15 June 2014
Featuring vintage and rare prints by EO Hoppé, Harold Cazneaux, Olive Cotton, Max Dupain and David Moore, charting the development of a modernist aesthetic with the city as subject and context. Lenders to the exhibition: Pat Corrigan and Josef Lebovic Gallery.
Models for the afterlife
9 March – 13 April 2014
Presented in collaboration with the Asian Arts Institute of Australia, the exhibition explored ritual, mythology and the afterlife in Ancient Chinese ceramics (Neolithic to Tang Dynasty) and contemporary works by artists Shoufay Derz, Stevie Fieldsend, Marketa Luskacova and Trent Parke.
"Three Voices"
Morton Feldman’s late work Three Voices (1982) is grand scale minimalism at its most sublime. It is also one of the most demanding pieces ever written for voice.
Soprano Sonya Holowell will perform the full work following her presentation of an excerpt at the National Gallery of Australia last year as part of “Sounding Turrell” curated by Roland Peelman.
The three voices – two pre-recorded and the third performed live – surround the audience and sing a capella. Lush, immersive and nuanced, Feldman uses repetition to unlock an astonishing range of rhythms, textures and tone colours.
Previously Young Artist/Director with the Song Company (2014), Holowell currently directs CACHE in POINT, a concert platform for contemporary classical music, inter-disciplinary experimentation and spontaneous music.
Date: Sunday 21 February, 3pm
Concert duration: approx. 50 mins, no interval. Please note that latecomers cannot be admitted.
Venue: Delmar Gallery
Tickets: from $20 / FREE for Trinity students & Society of the Arts members
Written In Time
Photography, painting and installation by eight recent graduates and PhD candidates from Sydney art schools NAS, SCA and UNSW Art & Design: Lauren Beasley, Robert Bennett, Rebecca Gallo, Heath McCalmont-Parkinson, William Meadley, George Shaw and Edward Whitelock. Curated by Catherine Benz.
Image: Camilla Cassidy, Danse Society 1985 2015, chalk and oil on canvas, 120 x 120cm
Exhibition opening: Saturday 30 January, 3pm-5pm
Exhibition dates: 31 January – 21 February, 2016
Gallery opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12pm-5pm
Gunungan: Bagus 'Gonk' Prabowo & Miao Textiles
Contemporary batik and installation by Indonesian artist Bagus ‘Gonk’ Prabowo, international artist-in-residence at Ashfield Council’s Thirning Villa. In Javanese tradition, ‘Gunungan’ symbolises peaceful living, guided by sharing, contemplation and appreciation.
MIAO TEXTILES
A focus exhibition featuring the exquisite silk embroidery of the Miao People of southern China, sourced from a private collector in Sydney.
Image (left): Bagus ‘Gonk’ Prabowo, “Gunungan” (detail) 2015, batik on cotton
Image (right): Miao People, Guizhou, China, “100 Bird Festival coat” (detail), silk embroidery, cotton, paper, feathers and seeds
The exhibitions will be officially opened by Councillor Lucille McKenna OAM, Mayor of Ashfield Council
Exhibition Dates: 6 March – 20 March, 2016
Veronique Serret & Bree Van Reyke | Violin & Vibes
Bree van Reyk and Véronique Serret’s new vibraphone and violin duo project presents a unique mix of repertoire bringing together the diverse musical journeys of these two highly acclaimed musicians. Their highly original program will range from re-imagined Bach inventions to Appalachian-influenced folk songs, Finnish reels, deep Congolese grooves, newly commissioned Australian works plus self-styled improvisation!
Serret is currently Concertmaster with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra. Her 2016 international engagements include tours with Sydney Dance Company and Joanna Newsom’s band. 2016 will see van Reyk appear at MOFO and Sydney Festival, tour with the ACO and compose a soundscape for the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Date: Tuesday 15 March, 7.30pm
Venue: Delmar Gallery
Aberhart | Three Decades
Part of the Sydney-wide Head On Photo Festival, this exhibition delves into the rich archive of renowned New Zealand photographer, Laurence Aberhart, presenting over 75 works from 1980 – 2010. Shot exclusively on a century-old 8” x 10” flatbed camera, Aberhart creates luminous, finely detailed contact silver gelatin prints in a process dating from the early days of film photography. Literally imbued with time, his extraordinary photographs are reflections on transience and endurance. They invite us into a world where time has paused, and the past conflates with the present on a deeper timescale.
Born in 1949 in Nelson, Aberhart is one of New Zealand’s most renowned photographers. His work has been the subject of many exhibitions, including a major survey in 2008 at City Gallery, Wellington, curated by Justin Paton and Gregory Burke and accompanied by a comprehensive monograph, and in 2002 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. He is represented in Sydney by Darren Knight Gallery.
Exhibition dates: 27 April – 29 May 2016
Exhibition opening function: Saturday 30 April, 3-5pm
The Muffat Collective
Date: Tuesday 17 May, 7.30pm
The Muffat Collective takes its name from George Muffat (1653–1704), a remarkable German composer who proposed that “a gathering together of the best styles of various nations would be appropriate in order to amuse you.” He implied that by uniting the French, Italian and German music styles of the Baroque period, he would bring these often quarrelsome nations closer together.
In the hands of four brilliant musicians, Sydney’s newest period ensemble brings you the flair of the Baroque, guaranteed to refresh the spirit – plus entertain and perhaps even amuse!
The Collective’s members have recently returned to Sydney after further study and engagements as soloists, concertmasters and in early music ensembles in Europe. Hear their exquisite interpretation of works by Couperin, Leclair and more, and share in their passion for the Baroque!
Programme:
CORELLI – Sonate da Chiesa Op.3 – No.1 in F Major
COUPERIN – Le Parnasse, ou l’apothéose de Corelli – Grande Sonade en Trio
LECLAIR – Overture & Trio Sonata, No. 2 in D Major, Opus 13
Anthony Abouhamad (harpsichord)
Rafael Font-Viera (violin)
Matthew Greco (violin)
Anton Baba (viola da gamba)
Date: Tuesday 17 May, 7.30pm
Concert duration: approx. 60 mins (no interval)
Venue: Delmar Gallery
Tickets: from $20 / FREE for Trinity students & Society of the Arts members
The Air is Free: James Fardoulys & Dean Manning
James Fardoulys (1900-1975) arrived in Australia from Kythera, Greece in 1914, and criss-crossed outback Queensland and NSW with his ventriloquist wife and vaudeville troupe in the 1920s. Taking up painting after he retired from taxi driving in 1960, on a South Brisbane verandah he conjured Australian outback and colonial scenes. He mixed memories with whimsy, history with fantasy, and quickly established himself as one of Australia’s foremost naïve painters.
In a kitchen in Athens in 2016, Dean Manning (1964-) mixed traditional Greek pigments to etch out fragments of Athenian life: portraits of rembetiko singers from the 1920s, graffiti and street protests, smoke and conversation in cafes, refugees arriving in Onassis’ port, Ariadne’s thread and the Minotaur. His paintings and video animation find their way beneath the surface of his father’s homeland. Like Fardoulys, Manning is part of the Greek diaspora and a self-taught painter, arriving at painting through his music.
The Air is Free brings together Manning’s imagined Greece with Fardoulys’ imagined Australia. Curated by Catherine Benz
Exhibition dates: 3 – 31 July, 2016
Opening function: Sunday 3 July, 2-4pm
Images:
James Fardoulys, “The Air is Free” 1963
Dean Manning, “Minotaur #1” 2016
Ricardo Gallén | Solo Guitar Recital
Born in Linares, Spain, Ricardo Gallén began playing classical guitar at the age of four, performing in public just a year later. At the age of ten he entered the Conservatory of Music in Cordoba, and thus began a career which has taken him to the great concert halls of the world. In 2009 he was the youngest professorial appointment at the Franz Liszt Academy in Weimar.
His inspiring and innovative interpretations rank him amongst the world’s top musicians. In the words of Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, his “immense creativity and virtuosity is sensed just by looking at his hands!”
Gallén will be travelling to Australia courtesy of the Adelaide Guitar Festival. With the support of the Cervantes Institute, we are thrilled to present him in Sydney. His solo recital will include works by Agustin Barrios, Antonio Lauro, J. S. Bach and Leo Brouwer.
Date: Tuesday 9 August, 7.30pm
Venue: Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
Tickets: $20 (concession & seniors), $30 (full). Free for Trinity students & Society of the Arts members.
PRRIM
With an all-star cast featuring koto master Satsuki Odamura, South Indian percussionist Tunji Beier and Australian Art Orchestra’s Adrian Sherriff on bass trombone, PRRIM was always going to be a truly exceptional trio!
Meaning ‘spring’ or ‘well’ in the language of the Wembawemba people of Western Victoria, PRRIM’s music is fresh, alive and spontaneous. Their fluid improvisations and original compositions draw on a deep wellspring of traditional sources, from South Indian to Japanese and Indonesian music plus a touch of jazz.
Driving their sound is the South Indian rhythmic tradition, which they explore as a creative springboard for their musical adventures.
Tapping into emotional depths and with a dynamic rapport rarely witnessed, PRRIM will take you places you’ve never dreamed!
Date: Wednesday 26 October, 7.30pm
Venue: Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
Tickets: $20 (concession & seniors), $30 (full). Free for Trinity students & Society of the Arts members.
RESOLVED: JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIAN DESIGN
Following its two-year tour around Australia, this major design exhibition from Object: Australian Design Centre and Workshopped returns to Sydney for a final stop at Delmar Gallery.
Resolved: Journeys In Australian Design showcases the winning entries of the past 12 annual ‘Workshopped’ exhibitions. Workshopped is an organisation that has discovered, nurtured and launched the careers of some of the most exciting and talented designers.
The exhibition will take you behind the scenes to uncover the design ‘journey’ of 12 contemporary Australian designers from inspiration to final resolution. It brings to life the stories that a completed product does not tell, revealing the starts and stops, the revisions and breakthroughs that are part of the process of design.
Each of these designers has a very unique success story that has placed them at the leading edge of their field. The many ways to define ‘success’ will be explored: creative collaborations, sustainable design, contemporary objects with traditional cultural expressions, experimental use of material and manufacture, and innovative application of emerging technology.
Featuring Adam Cornish, Adam Goodrum, Alex Gilmour, Ben McCarthy, Bic Tieu, Chris Hardy, Fukutoshi, Gary Galego, Kate Stokes, Marc Harrison, Matt Conway and Zoë MacDonell.
Adam Goodrum, Stitch Chair. Image courtesy of the Australian Design Centre.
Exhibition dates: 12 November – 4 December, 2016
Opening function: Friday 11 November, 6-8pm
THE 64TH BLAKE PRIZE
A Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Exhibition toured by Liverpool City Council
One of Australia’s longest-running and prestigious art prizes returns to Delmar Gallery as part of its 2017 national tour. Now a biennial event, the Blake Prize continues to stimulate contemporary artists to engage in important conversations concerning faith, spirituality, religion, hope, humanity, social justice, belief and non-belief.
First staged in 1951, The Prize is named after the legendary British artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827) whose broad range of artistic and poetic innovations, visionary imagination and radical politics made him an outsider in his day.
Never shy of controversy, the Blake Prize has always invited an open, personal and idiosyncratic response to questions of religion and spirituality, so much so that it has earned the criticism, ire and sometimes applause of critics and the public alike.
The touring component of the Blake Prize includes 25 works selected from the finalists’ exhibition by: Cigdem Aydemir, David Asher Brook, Zanny Begg, Adnan Begic, Liam Benson, Angela Casey, Valerio Ciccone, Darron Davies, Tamara Dean, Shoufay Derz, Robert Hague (winner of the 64th Blake Established Artist Residency Prize) , Abdullah M I Syed, Muhammad Iyhab, Shannon Johnson, Alan Jones, Tom Lawford, Matthew McVeigh & Ida Bagus, Rekah Bakurha, Reg Mombassa, William (Bill) Moseley & Joanna Logue, Damien Shen (winner of the 64th Blake Emerging Artist), Sally Simpson, Sarah Spackman, Angela Tiatia, Brenda Walsh and Zan Wimberley.
Image: Robert Hague, The Messenger 2015, Carrara marble, 28 x 68 x 34cm. Courtesy of the artist and Fehily Contemporary.
Exhibition dates: 1 – 26 February, 2017
Opening function: Saturday, 4 February, 3pm with guest speaker Leanne Tobin, artist, educator and member of the Blake Prize judging panel
ACACIA QUARTET
‘an incredible depth of understanding’ – THE AGE
‘playing of the highest order’ – CLASSIKON
Founded in 2010 by four friends with a passion for chamber music, the Acacia Quartet has quickly won great respect for their programs which often couple established repertoire with the unorthodox.
The quartet has been invited to Berlin by the Raphael Foundation to perform and record the string quartets Nos. 1, 2 & 6 by Günter Raphael (1903-60) in May 2017. Their program at Delmar Gallery will include the first of these quartets in E Minor, characteristic of Raphael’s early composition style. It will be complemented by one of Mozart’s most famous and late string quartets – String Quartet No. 15 K421, the second of the quartets dedicated to Haydn and the only one of the set in a minor key.
Violins: Lisa Stewart & Myee Clohessy
Viola: Stefan Duwe
Cello: Anna Martin-Scrase
Concert date: Tuesday 21 February, 7.30pm
Venue: Delmar Gallery
Tickets: $20 concession / $30 full
Light Fields
Light Fields features a site-specific installation by the current international artist-in-residence at the Inner West Council’s Thirning Villa, and video, photomedia, collage and sculpture exploring light and spatial perception by five 2016 Sydney College of the Arts and National Art School graduates.
Exhibiting artists are Ciaran Begley, Megan Mosholder, Sean O’Connell, Michael Petchkovsky, Alice Sciberras and Jade Sibinovski. The exhibition has been curated by Catherine Benz.
Using string, UV paint and parabolic curves, Megan Mosholder (USA) has built a reputation for creating beguiling, immersive installations. Her recently-completed commission at Google’s Pittsburgh office snakes through a 2 storey atrium space, playing with our perception of colour, light and space.
Exhibition dates: 12 – 26 March
Opening: Saturday 11 March, 3-5pm
Image: Megan Mosholder, installation at Google in Pittsburgh
BABY ET LULU
Be swept away by classic and contemporary chansons written by some of the greatest French songwriters, performed by Australia’s seductive French-language duo!
Baby et Lulu are much loved artistes Abby Dobson (Leonardo’s Bride) and Lara Goodridge (FourPlay).
With voices that blend so beautifully, and romance and seduction expressed so intelligently and humorously, this is a truly magnetic musical partnership.
Join them and their prodigious band in a celebration of la vie française!
FEATURING
Matt Ottignon – flute, sax, clarinet Julian Curwin – guitar
Marcello Maio – accordion
Mark Harris – double bass
Hamish Stuart – drums
Tuesday 16 May, 7.30pm in the Delmar Gallery
Tickets from $20.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
Aris Georgiou
Guest Curator: Jack Pam
Spanning a thirty-year period, this is the first major survey exhibition of Greek photographer Aris Georgiou to be shown in Australia.
With a powerfully romantic, creative sensibility, Georgiou trains his lens on the social world, urbanism and history. Themes of repetition, memory, hope, dreams and love recur as they are warped and exploited by the passage of time.
Proudly presented by Delmar Gallery and produced by the Australian Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Exhibition dates: 26 April to 21 May, 2017
Opening function with the artist: Sunday 7 May, 2pm
Artist talk: Saturday 13 May, 2.30pm. Free event. No RSVP required.
Image: Aris Georgiou, Athens Downtown 1989
MICHAEL KIERAN HARVEY (PIANO)
A champion of Australian music and himself a composer, Michael Kieran Harvey regularly commissions new Australian music and has performed with Australia’s leading contemporary music ensembles and orchestras.
For this rare Sydney appearance, his program focuses on the theme of homage – Andrián Pertout’s homage to his adopted country, “Luz Meridional”; Harvey’s piano cycle “The Green Brain’ inspired by Frank Herbert’s novel; and “Homage to Liszt”, composed by Harvey and dedicated to the inveterate environmentalist, Peter Cundall.
Born in Sydney, he studied piano with Alan Jenkins, Gordon Watson, and at the Liszt Academy, Budapest, under Sándor Falvai. Now based in Tasmania, his career has been notable for its diversity and wide repertoire. He has especially promoted the works of Australian and contemporary composers and recorded many solo CDs on various labels.
Trinity’s Society of the Arts & Delmar Gallery is thrilled to present a solo recital by arguably one of Australia’s greatest pianists.
Date: Thursday 15 June 7.30pm
Venue: Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
Tickets from $20. Free for Trinity students and Society of the Arts members.
RAY HUGHES: AFRICA
In the early 1990s, art dealer Ray Hughes travelled to West Africa and brought back exhibitions the likes of which hadn’t before been seen in Sydney. Kane Kwei’s decorative coffins that Hughes commissioned became the talk of the town and ascended their own special platform of popular local mythology. Voodoo traced beliefs and aesthetics from West Africa to Haiti and back again.
Since his first purchase of a carved wooden “awale” or seed game in 1974, African art and objects have been an integral part of Hughes’ vast personal art collection. The scope and profundity of this collector’s eye has proved to be astounding. Driven by the desire to exhibit and collect art that intrigues, stimulates and amazes, Hughes seeks it out in surprising places.
This is the first time an exhibition focussing on the extraordinary West and Central African art in his collection has been presented.
Curated by Catherine Benz and Nick Vickers
Exhibition dates: 2 to 6 August (Exhibition extended!)
Official opening: Sunday 2 July, 2pm with guest speaker, Dr John Yu AC
Gallery talk: Saturday 22 July, 2pm. Ray Hughes in conversation with Simon Marnie, Presenter, Weekends, ABC Radio Sydney. Free event.
Click here to view the exhibition catalogue
Listen to Ray Hughes in conversation with Simon Marnie at Delmar Gallery, 22 July 2017
Image: Cyprien Tokoudagba, Cbinglo, acrylic on canvas, 160 x 230cm
WAY OUT WEST
..an extraordinary cross-cultural mix that could only be Australian
—THE AGE
Directed by Australian Art Orchestra’s Peter Knight, Way Out West is a listening experience like no other! The multi-award winning cross-cultural septet formed in 2001, beguiling audiences from Melbourne to Montreal and Veneto to Takatsuki with a sound that has been described as “utterly unique”. Taking out the 2016 Music Victoria Award for Best Jazz Album, their most recent release builds on the band’s long history of integrating Asian instrumentation in a contemporary setting, and infusing these influences with West African grooves and jazz inflected melodies.
FEATURING
Peter Knight – trumpet/laptop
Satsuki Odamura – koto
Paul Williamson – saxophone
Lucas Michailidis – guitar
Ray Pereira – percussion
Howard Cairns – bass
Raj Jayaweersa – drums
Date: Wednesday 9 August 7.30pm
Venue: Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
Tickets from $20. Free for Trinity students and Society of the Arts members.
SMASHED SCREENS
“Smashed Screens is about expecting more from the way you view the world. While most people’s vision is now mediated through screens – poorly lit, cracked, diffracted – this group of artists still dares to look outside the plastic frame” – guest curator, Priscilla Bourne.
Exhibiting artists: Ciaran Begley, Jessica Bradford, Christian Davis, Adrian De Giorgio, Georgia Emslie, Jody Graham, Kasane Low, Al Poulet, Colin Rhodes, Laurence Williams and Rohan Wilson.
Official opening: Saturday 18 November, 3-5pm with a performance by Laurence Williams
Exhibition dates: 19 November – 3 December
Image: Jessica Bradford Haw Par Villa Rock Study #10 2016 bisque fired porcelain, 6.7×12.6x4cm. Photography: Document.
JAMES MCLEAN
with Christopher Hale & Sam Gill
Melbourne drummer James McLean is fast establishing a reputation as a leading young voice in jazz and experimental improvised music. In 2016, he took out the national Freedman Jazz Fellowship with a sensational performance at the Opera House – becoming the first drummer to claim the prize in its history.
For his first major Sydney engagement since his Freedman win, he will be presenting new solo works followed by duo and trio pieces with award-winning electric bassist Christopher Hale, and saxophonist Sam Gill.
Praised for his enchanting use of rests and resonance, McLean effortlessly draws the audience into his expansive explorations of sound and rhythm, with virtuosity and creative flair in equal measure.
Expect an exhilarating evening of inspired improvisation, searing guitar and a taste of New York’s downtown!
Date: Tuesday 24 October, 7.30pm
Venue: Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
TAKING UP WITH MODERNISM
THE AKKY VAN OGTROP COLLECTION
Focussing on the tumultuous years of the European avant-garde and their legacy, taking up with modernism: the Akky van Ogtrop Collection includes master prints, rare documents and artist’s books from the collection of works on paper specialist, Print Council president and DADA enthusiast, Akky van Ogtrop.
Artists represented include Theo van Doesburg, Erich Buchholz, Max Ernst, Frantisek Kupka, César Domela Nieuwenhuis, Josef Albers, Robert Motherwell, Maurice van Essche and more. The earliest piece is a 1917 issue of the influential German avant-garde arts publication, “Der Sturm”, with woodcuts by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
Opening: Sunday 4 February, 2pm, with guest speaker, Barry Keldoulis, CEO Art Fairs Australia & Director, Sydney Contemporary
Free gallery talk: Saturday 17 February, 2.30pm, Akky van Ogtrop in conversation with exhibition curator Catherine Benz
Exhibition dates: 4 – 25 February, 2018
Free admission
image: Maurice van Essche (1906 – 1977), “Dada Affiche” 1926, lithograph, 19 x 21cm. Reproduced with permission of the artist’s estate
ENSEMBLE ASPHERICAL
The Last Rose of Summer
Bringing to the stage a wealth of repertoire and experience, Sydney’s newest chamber group Ensemble Aspherical features four long-standing members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Principal Harp, Louise Johnson, former Principal Flute, Janet Webb, Marina Marsden (violin) and Justine Marsden (viola).
Crafted especially for this intimate recital at Delmar Gallery, The Last Rose of Summer is a program filled with melancholic beauty and shimmering elegance, the ethereal sounds of harp and complemented by the vibrancy and warmth of the strings. Not to be missed!
PROGRAMME
Vivaldi – Concerto a 4 in F major RV100
The Last Rose of Summer arr. L. Johnson
Debussy – Afternoon of a Faun (Prelude)
Spohr – Potpourri on Themes from Mozart’s Magic Flute Sonata Op. 114
Reger – Serenade Op.141a in G (Vivace)
Alwyn – Naiades (Fantasy Sonata)Piazzolla – Libertango
Date: Tuesday 20 February, 7.30pm
Venue: Delmar Gallery
Tickets: $10 – $30. Free for Trinity students & Society of the Arts Members.
Daniel Weltlinger
Praised by SMH critic John Shand for his “incandescent” playing and “glorious tone”, one of Australia’s foremost Gypsy-jazz musicians and composers will stop by Delmar Gallery to perform a selection from his acclaimed seven-year, three-CD homage to Django Reinhardt.
Dedicated to Reinhart’s international legion of fans, Weltlinger’s original compositions and arrangements pay tribute to the enduring Gypsy Swing or ‘Manouche’ musical style which Reinhardt pioneered in the 1930s-1950s, and which continues to inspire countless musicians and audiences around the world today.
Now based in Berlin, Weltlinger recorded the third CD Samoreau (2017) in Germany with members of Reinhardt’s family. For his Sydney appearance, he will be joined by a stellar line-up of local jazz talent.
Featuring
Daniel Weltlinger – violin
Aaron Flower – guitar
Cameron Jones – guitar
Stan Valacos – bass
Date: Tuesday 10 April, 7.30pm
Venue: Delmar Gallery
Tickets: $10 – $30. Free for Trinity students & Society of the Arts Members.
Dr Rosenberg’s Wunderkammer
Tracing the upheavals, aspirations and oddities of the 20th century, The Rosenberg Museum is a violin museum like no other.
Previously exhibited in Violin (Slovakia) and Berlin before being repatriated to Australia and displayed at Carriageworks in 2016, it takes up residence at Delmar Gallery for a short time.
Brand new instruments such as the Diaphonium and the One-String Horn Fiddle join this unique collection of over 1,000 artefacts featuring everything on, with, or about violins.
The brainchild of violinist, composer, improviser, and inventor Jon Rose, these are not just your regular violins. This museum features violins of fantasy and the fantastic. Violins with extra necks, violins with way too many strings, robot violins, wheeling violins, violins joined together like Siamese twins, and violins to be played on and by a bicycle are just some of the 1,000-odd artefacts.
Dr Rosenberg’s Wunderkammer is a cabinet of curiosities that will fascinate, disturb and delight.
Free performances, demonstrations and talks on Sundays at 2pm (excluding Easter weekend, when the gallery is closed).
Opening: Saturday 10 March, 3pm, with guest speaker, Anthony Bond OAM
Opening weekend performances: Ross Manning (Revolving Violin) and Jon Rose (Monochord and Various Violins)
Sunday afternoon performances: visit Delmar Gallery on Facebook for program updates
Exhibition dates: 11 March – 29 April, 2018
Free admission
image: Jon Rose, Ten String Double Violin, Dangar Island, 1982. Photo: Kristine Rose
Head On Photo Festival
Official opening: Monday 7 May, 6pm, with guest speaker John McDonald, art critic for Sydney Morning Herald and film critic for Australian Financial Review
Artist talk: Saturday 12 May, 3pm, by Sheila Zhao
Exhibition dates: 5 – 27 May
In collaboration with Head On Photo Festival, Delmar Gallery presents the following exhibitions by three photographers based in China.
Peng Xiangjie
Cosplay (Second Dimension)
Chinese photographer Peng Xiangjie travelled to cities across China to document a widespread, subcultural phenomenon amongst younger generations: cosplay festivals. In his series of portraits of festival participants, he finds a ‘second dimension’ opening up between the fictional and the real. In a society that does not fully accept gender fluidity and diverse sexualities, cosplay creates a space where these identities can be expressed and explored.
Supported by White Rabbit.
Sheila Zhao
The East Was Red
Chinese-American photographer Sheila Zhao examines how political narratives can affect a nation’s collective consciousness, as seen through the lens of found photographs from China’s Cultural Revolution. The East Was Red considers how politics of the time impacted on the way the Chinese populace chose to represent themselves – and ultimately changed the photographic history of China.
Olivia Martin-McGuire
China Love
China’s rapidly growing wedding industry is worth over 80 billion dollars. Australian photographer Olivia Martin-McGuire has documented one of the industry’s most curious parts: the pre-wedding photo shoot. Up to a year before the wedding, every couple participates in elaborate shoots complete with fantasy costumes and backdrops. Not only are they proof of the forthcoming marriage, but proof of the new era of love, romance, freedom, money and the new China dream.
Lamine Sonko Trio
10 May, 7.30pm
Delmar Gallery
Charismatic and multi-talented, Lamine Sonko is a brilliant dancer, singer, percussionist and guitarist. He was born in Senegal into a highly respected family of griots or keepers of traditional culture, with his father the director of the National Ballet and his mother a lead dancer.
After moving to Melbourne in 2004, Sonko established himself as Australia’s leading Afro-beat lyricist, fronting The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra and collaborating with various artists including Grammy Award winner Wouter Kellerman.
In 2012 he founded his most successful project to date: Lamine Sonko & The African Intelligence, a 10 piece band that delivers a rhythmic collision of African roots music, jazz, funk, and reggae. Their debut album AFRO EMPIRE was released in 2017.
For this intimate concert, he will be performing in a trio format, blending traditional African rhythms and melodies with the contemporary sound of acoustic guitar, telling stories of ancient lands and cross-cultural journeys.
Proudly presented by Trinity Grammar’s Society of the Arts & Delmar Gallery as part of the 2018 Concert Series.
FEATURING
Lamine Sonko – acoustic guitar, vocals
Kumar Shome – acoustic guitar
Alioune Seck – calabash, light percussion
Tickets $30 full / $20 concession & seniors / $10 children under 16
FREE for Trinity students and Society of the Arts Members
Venue
Delmar Gallery
Trinity Grammar School
144 Victoria St
Ashfield, NSW 2131
Contact Details:
Catherine Benz, Delmar Gallery
ph 9581 6070 (Wed to Fri)
Ensemble Offspring
the intimacy and strangeness of these inexplicable rituals was spell-binding —ARTS HUB
Birdsong and the weird and wonderful squeaks, croaks and creaks of the Australian bush are the inspiration for this special concert by Ensemble Offspring. Sydney’s champions of adventurous new music will be performing in a trio presentation of flute (Lamorna Nightingale), clarinet (Jason Noble) and percussion (Claire Edwardes).
It’s a program which shines the spotlight on female composers as well as the newest of the new living music: every work on the program was written in collaboration with the musicians of Ensemble Offspring and features them as soloists and long time passionate chamber music collaborators.
PROGRAM
Fiona Loader – Lorikeet Corroboree
Hollis Taylor – Owen Springs Reserve
Tristan Coelho – As the Dust Settles
Felicity Wilcox – Yurabirong
Melody Eotvos – Leafcutter and Tardigradus
When: Tuesday 31 July, 7.30pm
Where: Delmar Gallery
Concert duration: approx. 60 mins (no interval)
Tickets: $10 – $30
Delmar Gallery
Trinity Grammar School
144 Victoria St
Ashfield, NSW 2131
Contact Details:
Catherine Benz, Delmar Gallery
ph 9581 6070 (Wed to Fri)
Raw Wedderburn
Suzanne Archer | Elisabeth Cummings | Robert Hirschmann | Roy Jackson | Ildiko Kovacs | John Peart
Guest curator: Sioux Garside
RAW Wedderburn brings together paintings spanning four decades by six distinguished Australian artists: Suzanne Archer (1945-), Elisabeth Cummings (1934-), Robert Hirschmann (1968-), Roy Jackson (1944-2013), Ildiko Kovacs (1962-) and John Peart (1946-2013).
Visceral and vibrant with an emphasis on raw, direct brush marks, the exhibition highlights an expressionist current in contemporary Australian painting. In the artists’ distinctive approaches to painting, curator Sioux Garside foregrounds a common drive to experiment and investigate, constantly pushing their work and striving to move in surprising directions: “keeping it all flowing, fluid and happening”, as she quotes the late Roy Jackson.
The exhibition includes large-scale, expansive paintings, as well as smaller canvases and works on paper, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. Many of the works in the exhibition were completed while the artists were in studios in close proximity to each other, on bush properties in Wedderburn on the outskirts of Sydney.
Exhibition opening: Saturday 23 June, 3-5pm, with guest speaker Anne Ryan, Curator of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Exhibition dates: 24 June – 5 August, 2018
Gallery talk: Sunday 22 July, 3pm, Sioux Garside in conversation with Suzanne Archer
Image: Roy Jackson, Morning Thurra River campsite 1993, acrylic on canvas, 146.5 x 173cm. Photo: Stephen Oxenbury
the Grey Wing Trio
Young jazz-improvisation band, the Grey Wing Trio, has been carving out a reputation for its distinctly melodic, rapturous sound and adventurous performing.
With a nod to classical music traditions as much as to jazz, their style is epic and sweeping. Featuring the very talented line-up of Luke Sweeting on piano (Freedman Jazz finalist), Ken Allars on trumpet (James Morrison scholarship winner) and Finn Ryan on drums, their original compositions move from moments of expansive minimalism to hyper-lyrical impressionism. Glassy, water-like piano bells, flute-like horn timbres and small percussive textures flow in and out of their music.
For this very special appearance for Trinity’s Society of the Arts, the trio will be drawing on their acclaimed release “Amoroso”, improvising on their compositions to explore alternate forms and endings, with revelations of in-the-moment colours. Not to be missed!
“Themes emerge, then evaporate into floating motifs. Realities form and dissolve as if mirages. What remains is deep evanescent beauty.”
– John Fenton on Amoroso by Grey Wing Trio
When: Tuesday 23 October, 7.30pm
Concert duration: approx. 60 mins (no interval)
Where: Orchestra Room, Roderick West School of Music
Cost: $30 full / $20 concession / $10 children under 16
Free for Society of the Arts Members & Trinity students
ONE DOOR MENTAL HEALTH DOROTHY ART COMPETITION
Delmar Gallery is pleased to host the One Door Mental Health’s 11th Art Competition. Winning entries for the following prizes will be announced at the opening of the finalists’ exhibition:
The Acquisitive Dorothy Portrait Prize ($3,500)
The Acquisitive Frank Walker Memorial Prize ($1,500)
The Acquisitive Allan Hearn Encouragement Prize ($500)
Formerly Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW, One Door Mental Health supports people living with mental illness and their families. The Dorothy Art Competition is open to all artists with a diagnosed major mental illness. Entry forms are available at https://www.onedoor.org.au/events/one-door-dorothy-art-competition
Exhibition opening: Saturday 17 November, 3-5pm
Exhibition dates: 18 November – 2 December
Image: Previous winning entry by Fantasy Peddlar, “Untitled”, 60 x 90cm, oil on canvas.
Gaudy Art From the Hughes Collection
Collected by the late art dealer Ray Hughes and his son Evan from the artists’ Beijing and Chongqing studios, the works in the exhibition belong to a wry, kitsch offshoot of the Chinese Political Pop movement, Gaudy Art. Coined by a prominent Chinese art critic in 1996, “gaudy” is translated from the Mandarin term “yansu” – “yan” meaning garishly coloured and “su” meaning vulgar. Using high key colours and imagery from popular culture, the Gaudy artists parodied the emerging consumer culture and pervasive ‘get rich quick’ mentality of the 1990s. The exhibition spans 1992 to 2007 and includes works by Qi Zhilong, Feng Zhengjie, Chang Xugong, Luo Brothers, Lu Hao, Chen Weimin, Hai Bo and Guo Jian. Curated by Catherine Benz.
Exhibition dates: 6 February – 3 March, 2019
Exhibition launch: Saturday 9 February, 3-5pm, with guest speaker Geoff Raby, Australian Ambassador to China 2007 – 2011 and a lion dance performance at 3.30pm courtesy of the Inner West Council
Listen to Evan Hughes in conversation with John McDonald, Delmar Gallery, 2 March 2019
Gallery open to the public, Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm. Free admission
Venue: Delmar Gallery, Trinity Grammar School, 144 Victoria St, Ashfield
Image: Feng Zhengjie, “Romantic Trip” 1999, oil on canvas, 158.5 x 196.5cm
Unknown Scripture
EUGENE CHOI
GEORGIA FREW
LIAM GARSTANG
ROBIN HUNGERFORD
HARLEY IVES
RICHARD KEAN
SARA OSCAR
Guest Curator: Liam Garstang
Through the multidisciplinary work of seven artists, Unknown Scripture explores our personal and communal relationships to religiosity and ritual, realities and unrealities, and societal truths and norms.
Exhibition dates: 17 March – 14 April, 2019
Exhibition opening: Saturday 16 March, 3-5pm
Artist Talks
Sunday 31 March 2pm – Richard Kean & Liam Garstang
Sunday 14 April 2pm – Sara Oscar & Robin Hungerford
Gallery open to the public, Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm. Free admission
Venue: Delmar Gallery, Trinity Grammar School, 144 Victoria St, Ashfield
Image: Sara Oscar, Traditional Mediums #4 2019, 53 x 80 cm, pigment print on archival paper
Head On Photo Festival
Presented by Delmar Gallery in collaboration with Head On Photo Festival
4 – 26 May, 2019

Women and children huddle together, quietly. The eight makeshift rafts, made of bamboo poles and yellow plastic palm oil containers, carry Rohingya refugees across the Naf River on a tide-dependent five-hour journey from Myanmar into Bangladesh.
Often described as the “world’s most persecuted minority”, the Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group from the Rakhine State in Myanmar. In October 2016, a military crackdown in the wake of a deadly attack on an army post sent hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.
This most recent exodus from Rakhine state, Myanmar, to the makeshift camps that have sprung up in Coxs Bazar District, began August 25, 2017, when militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army targeted about 30 police posts and an army base, killing several people.
So far more than 650,000 people have fled into Bangladesh, swelling the camps and creating a humanitarian crisis. Photograph by David Dare Parker
David Dare Parker
Exodus: Rohingya Refugee Crisis Bangladesh
Australian photojournalist David Dare Parker spent a month in Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh in December 2017 where he reported on the Rohingya refugee crisis. This exhibition focuses on stories of people who crossed the Myanmar border in 2017 and the refugee camps that were rapidly established – and still continue – in Bangladesh. While terrible pain and trauma is evident in these photographic portraits, there is also profound dignity and resilience.
“Every person we met that had a story to tell, wanted to tell it. Their stories were consistent. They want the world to know what they have been through.”
Agata Grzybowska
9 Gates of No Return
“You say that I live at the end of the world? The end of the world is there, on the left. I live even further, I live beyond.”
Shot over several winters in the remote Bieszczady Mountains, this exhibition by Polish photojournalist Agata Grzybowska is a meditation on displacement and loneliness.
In the wake of WWII, the Bieszczady region was forcibly depopulated. In the 1950s, it came to be synonymous with a mythical freedom from society. Grzybowska’s black and white photographs portray the frozen mountain landscapes and the lives of the outcasts, fugitives and exiles who dropped out in the 1950s to 1980s, hoping to find refuge there.
Official opening: Monday 6 May, 6pm
Guest speaker: Saba Vasefi, journalist, filmmaker, writer and Ambassador for the Asylum Seekers Centre
Saba Vasefi arrived in Australia in 2010 as a refugee, escaping persecution in Iran for her activism against the death penalty. She writes for the Guardian on the narratives of displacement and imprisoned women and children on Nauru. She is currently researching her PhD on Exilic Feminist Cinema Studies and teaches at Macquarie University.
Euan Macleod
Over a six month period, five Year 10 and Year 11 Trinity Grammar School students visited Euan Macleod’s studio, his solo exhibition at Clayton Utz and were given generous access to his archives.
Choosing to focus on the theme of the guardian figure, they have selected over 40 paintings, sketches and preliminary drawings spanning 1983 to 2019, touching on key periods of Macleod’s work including his family portraits of the late 1980s – 1990s, the Lyttelton Harbour paintings beginning in the early 2000s and the Gallipoli and Colossus paintings since 2010.
The Young Curators initiative was created and developed by 3:33 Art Projects. It sees Australian high school students work with a professional artist to select and present an exhibition of the artist’s work. Delmar Gallery is proud to be working in association with 3:33 Art Projects to present the inaugural exhibition.
Student curatorial team: Lewis Dobbin, Euan Germanos, Lewis Kanellos, Alexi Little and James Wang
Euan Macleod is represented in Sydney by King Street Gallery on William
Exhibition launch on Wednesday 19 June
5.15pm: artist and student curator talk
6.00pm: official opening with guest speaker Nick Vickers, independent curator
Free gallery talk: Thursday 4 July, 2.30pm with Delmar Gallery Assistant, Christine Smalley
Exhibition dates: 20 June – 4 August, 2019
Gallery hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm
Free admission
View the exhibition catalogue here
Image: Euan Macleod, Returning Memories 2002, oil on canvas, 180 x 137cm. Courtesy of the artist and King Street on William Gallery.
Rock Paper Scissors
Delmar Gallery’s final exhibition for 2019 brings together the new and the very old, featuring works by 30 contemporary artists set in dialogue with curious geological specimens and ancient artefacts. Rock, Paper, Scissors takes the materials and dynamics of the children’s game as the launching pad for excursions into matter, deep time, friction and memory.
Exhibiting artists:
LAURENCE ABERHART // ROBBIE AVENAIM // CIARAN BEGLEY // MARK BROWN // LOTTIE CONSALVO // JAMES DRINKWATER// MICHAEL ESSON // EMMA FIELDEN // JAN FIELDSEND // STEVIE FIELDSEND // PETER HARDY // KYOKO HASHIMOTO // ROBERT HIRSCHMANN // LOCUST JONES // JUMAADI // RICHARD KEAN // ANITA LEVER // EUAN MACLEOD TONY MIGHELL // SEAN O’CONNELL // KENZEE PATTERSON // ANDREW PURVIS // STEPHEN RALPH // BRONWYN RENNEX // JEANNETTE SIEBOLS // EJ SON // ABDULLAH M I SYED // FLORIA TOSCA // TONY TWIGG // SAIRI YOSHIZAWA
& loans from private geological and antiquities collections
OPENING: SATURDAY 23 NOVEMBER 3-5PM
EXHIBITION: 24 NOVEMBER – 8 DECEMBER, 2019
{Image: Laurence Aberhart, Takiji Kobashi Memorial, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan, 10 June 2001. silver gelatin, gold & selenium, 19.4 x 24.5 cm. Courtesy of Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney}
Special event in conjunction with the exhibition
Saturday 30 November
FREE ARTMAKING WORKSHOP in the gallery courtyard & environs
Cyanotypes with Bronwyn Rennex
Contour drawing with Peter Hardy
All ages and abilities welcome. Drop in between 11am – 1pm.
No bookings required. Materials provided.
Presented by Delmar Gallery in association with Trinity Grammar School’s Annual P & F Fiesta
The Cooked & the Raw
MECHELLE BOUNPRASEUTH
SUSAN CHEN
RYAN HANCOCK
BILLIE ROBERTSON
EBONY RUSSELL
ALEXANDRA STANDEN
MARCIA SWABY
curated by Catherine Benz
Delmar Gallery’s annual survey of recent graduate work turns the spotlight on the next generation of ceramic artists. The Cooked and the Raw features clay sculpture and installation by seven artists who have recently graduated with Honours and Masters degrees from the National Art School, Sydney College of the Arts and UNSW Art & Design. Embracing a diversity of techniques and approaches to the medium, their exuberant work ranges from exploring the raw expression and tactility of clay to highly refined built forms and immersive environments.
Exhibition opening: Saturday 8 February, 3-5pm with guest speaker Ramesh Nithiyendran, artist and lecturer, UNSW Art & Design
Exhibition dates: 5 – 23 February, 2020
Gallery hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm. Free admission.
Image: Mechelle Bounpraseuth, Do the Right Thing 2017, glazed earthenware. Photo: Peter Morgan.
SPANISH SOUVENIRS
Emily Granger | Harp
Jonathan Henderson | Flute
Presented in collaboration with Delmar Gallery, Trinity Grammar School, the enchanting combination of flute and harp unites two of Australia’s vibrant young soloists, Emily Granger and Jonathan Henderson, in a recital celebrating the rich heritage of Spain’s national dances and folk music. At the heart of this recital sits a deeply evocative rêverie – Manuel De Falla’s melancholic Nocturno, and the widely popular Seven Spanish Folksongs, a cycle in strikingly diverse regional styles imbued with Hispanic flair. A cornerstone of the Spanish Baroque, Les Folies d’Espagne of Marin Marais and elegant interpretations of the Habañera by Maurice Ravel and Emmanuel Chabrier will be performed, as well as miniatures by Jacques Ibert and Alphonse Hasselmans and François Borne’s Fantasie Brillante on Themes from Bizet’s Carmen.
Date: Monday 2 March, 7.30pm
Concert duration: approx. 60 mins, no interval
Venue: Delmar Gallery, Trinity Grammar School, entry via Victoria St gate
Tickets: $15 – $45 plus booking fee.
Fitzroy Crossing | Hassall Collection
Janangoo Butcher Cherel – Ngarralja Tommy May – Wakartu Cory Surprise
Fitzroy Crossing | Hassall Collection focusses on the work of three significant artists from the Kimberley WA.
The exhibition includes 35 paintings spanning 1989 to 2019 by Janangoo Butcher Cherel (c1920 – 2009), Wakartu Cory Surprise (c1929 – 2011) and Ngarralja Tommy May (born 1935).
Wakartu and Ngarralja were both born and spent their early years on Country in the Great Sandy Desert, while Janangoo was brought up on a cattle station located on his ancestral homeland in the river country. They belong to three of the five different language groups who moved to Fitzroy Crossing after being forced off their land.
Aspects of river and desert country reverberate through their paintings, with Wakartu’s sweeps of colour suggesting vast views of sandhills and waterholes, while Janangoo’s pulsating patterns record flood waters receding or clusters of bush fruits. Ngarralja’s innovative works on enamelled aluminium, Perspex and canvas chart seasonal changes in vegetation and weather systems across Wangkajunga and Walmajarri country.
The paintings are on loan from the Hassall Collection, a private collection of 20th century and contemporary art, distinguished by the depth in which individual artists are represented.
Curated by Catherine Benz and Robert Hirschmann.
Exhibition dates: 29 February – 30 April, 2020
Take the virtual tour
Image: Wakartu Cory Surprise, Bimarral Jila 2009, acrylic on canvas, 178 x 236cm. Courtesy of Mangkaja Arts, Fitzroy Crossing.
Where Clouds are Spirit Parrots
Where Clouds are Spirit Parrots is an exhibition of Ömie barkcloth paintings, honouring senior women artists from the remote mountains of south-eastern Papua New Guinea. It includes twenty paintings based on ancestral clan designs by Duvahe (Chiefs), elders and leading artists. The Ömie villages are located in the interior of Oro Province and surround the sacred volcano Huvaimo (Mount Lamington), which is central to their creation stories and art.
Organised in conjunction with Brennan King, Manager, Ömie Artists Inc.
Exhibition dates: 4 July to 23 August 2020
Image: Pennyrose Sosa, Avino’e – The Moon 2015, 124.5 x 71cm, natural pigments on nioge (barkcloth). Courtesy of the artist and Ömie Artists Inc.
Lithe
Lithe is a series of eight textile installations by emerging Sydney artist Sairi Yoshizawa. Yoshizawa organically dyes her handwoven textiles, with natural dyes extracted from foraged materials such as leaves and roots as well as spices and Japanese indigo. Using traditional methods such as ikat, along with knotting, twisting and weaving, every aspect of her work is considered. Its subtle tonal palette, refined geometry and translucency create a profound sense of weightlessness and serenity.
Exhibition dates: 4 July to 23 August 2020
Image: Sairi Yoshizawa, Flow of the day (detail) 2018, natural dyed hand woven cotton and wool
Ulada Ikya Ami (Listening to Beforetime Stories)
Delmar Gallery proudly presents Ulada Ikya Ami (Listening to Beforetime Stories) by Teho Ropeyarn. Walk through the interactive exhibition in the virtual gallery, zoom in and click on images and video to hear the artist talking about his work.
Teho Ropeyarn is a Cairns-based artist and curator from the Injinoo community of Northern Cape York Peninsula.
Through a series of large-scale vinylcut prints and installation, “Ulada Ikya Ami (Listening to Beforetime Stories)” recounts the history of the four clans that came together at Injinoo – the Gudang, Angkamuthi, Yadhaykana and Atambaya nations.
It traces this history in three parts: “Ulada (Beforetime)”, referring to ancestral records evidenced in rock art and knowledge passed down through creation stories; “Umany (European Colonisation)”, remembered by the community as a period of trauma and conflict with atrocities perpetrated by the colonial police magistrates; and “Uta (Later On)”, when the four clan groups reconciled in the 1900s and settled in Injinoo, and where today they maintain cultural connections, language and knowledge.
Underpinning the exhibition is three years’ research by the artist, accompanying Elders on Country and recording old and traditional stories in order to preserve them for future generations.
The exhibition was scheduled to be held at Delmar Gallery as part of Trinity Grammar’s artist-in-residence program. It was first presented by the artist at Kick Arts Contemporary in Cairns.
Image: Teho Ropeyarn, Uyinthayn 2017, mixed media vinylcut print on 300gsm hahnemühle paper, 184 x 110cm, edition of 10. Printer: Justin Majid.