LIFE IN SQUARES
Life in Squares is a first-time collaboration between Territory artists Cecily Willis and Violet Bond at Qubit Gallery.
WORDS TIERNEY WHITE
CECILY WILLIS HAS worked with the medium of clay for more than two decades, winning a swag of awards throughout her career, with pieces acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
Violet Bond works across a range of mediums, her more recent has involved collecting natural and discarded objects and using them to create compelling images in a variety of ways and on a range of surfaces.
Willis is also Bond’s aunty and says the two have long considered collaborating on an exhibition.
“Violet Bond and I have been talking about working together for some time … Initially we looked at the possibility of opening our own retail space in Darwin, but the high rental costs lead us to consider the alternative of a collaborative exhibition,” Willis says.
“Violet is my niece and we’ve both lived in the Top End for a long time, so communication and collaboration has been a natural, smooth exercise. While she has created works in a range of mediums, I have remained a slave to clay … For the past few years, I have been drawn to the look and texture of dry glazes, and I have been experimenting with them on a variety of shapes and clay bodies.”
Life in Squares came together when the artists realised they were both drawn to squares in their current arts practice, a shape they feel carries domination in everyday life. Whilst the works aren’t all necessarily square in form, there are links and suggestions to the square throughout, the pieces interactive and inviting to touch.
Bond says working with the concept of squares is a break from her natural way of working.
“Most of my work is about how we relate circularly to the environment, so life, death, birth, life, death, birth. And I grew up in Manangrida, so living with that proximity to Indigenous Australia has also made me really aware of those cycles in the natural world,” she says.
“In this exhibition, trying to contain the natural world in that way just feels, honestly, for me, it's a reflection of colonisation and collection – at how we put things in museums and we collect things in little boxes. So, trying to kind of fit the whole natural world into one little square box.
“It's this idea of life that is just so counterintuitive … and all of those old adages of, you know, putting things in a box, putting people in a box, all of that seems to be wrapped up in the same thing.”
As well as the square, the pair was inspired by the natural beauty of the Northern Territory.
“The colours used and obtained combine the natural hues of our northern environment with those we are drawn to in our decorative life spaces,” Willis says.
The works from each of the artists varies given their mediums and interpretations, but it works. Bond says collaborating with her aunty has been a very special experience.
“It always felt like we were like kindred spirits, but in our own lane, which has been a really interesting thing. Having my aunt be so entrenched in use of natural materials in this other stream, where I was using natural materials to make sculpture, photography and multimedia projects,” she says.
“We've both been really passionate from our different lanes, but they always seem to touch each other at some point. Having them living parallel is one thing, but now to have them in the same place, speaking the same language, feels like a real coming home.”
Life In Squares
WHEN FRI 10 APR – THU 30 APR | OPENING FRI 10 APR 5.30PM
AT QUBIT GALLERY
INFO qubitgallery.com.au
