Vital Signs

Created under the restrictions of COVID, the works demonstrate a driving passion to persist despite the pandemic and create something inspiring.

Fifteen emerging artists from across the Illawarra and Greater Sydney feature as they present contemporary painting, sculptural, ceramic, photographic, multimedia and textile works. In addition to the exhibition, the gallery is offering to one student the Hazelhurst Arts Centre Artist in Residency Prize - a two week residency with accommodation and a studio at the gallery.

The exhibition and accompanying residency was born from a partnership between Hazelhurst and UOW’s School of the Arts, English and Media to support and promote artists in the early stages of their career; for many students exhibiting, this will be their first exhibition outside the university walls.

Selected by Hazelhurst curator Carrie Kibbler, the artworks portray a wide array of experimental and unpredictable approaches to art making, with the common thread of being conceptualised through a lockdown, resulting in creative and adaptive ways of making - works have been successfully produced in bathrooms, kitchens and backyards alongside studio spaces. The works investigate themes such as the environment, use of land, the body, identity and intergenerational narratives, along with alchemical processes and documentary practices.

Alongside these opportunities, Hazelhurst also offers a curatorial internship to one graduate. The program allows the selected student to get a taste of the inner workings of a gallery space and exhibition off the university campus. This year’s intern, Nova Tucker, says “it’s a chance to get my foot in the door of the professional art world, and it’s so inspiring and motivational to work with such like-minded and driven people.”

Exhibiting artists: Nora Al-Katify, Monica Bowdler, Nova Brown Longhurst, Sophie Chauncy, Courtney Coller, Renae Dehn, Stella Evans, Imogen Hourd, Ruby Leconte, Angus Mackinley, Matilda Merrick, Mark Merrikin, Gabi Palmer, Sam St Jon, Sarah White.

Image credit: Monica Bowdler, The In Between, 2020, pigment print on cotton rag.