Space A

Convent Studio Artist Program

Jonathan West

Heavy Metal Haven

At the beginning of 2008 the National news reported on a small isolated Aboriginal community in a Northern Territory town called Wadeye, formerly known as the catholic mission Port Keats. Violent riots had erupted between the town gangs and it looked like the Australian Armed Forces were going to have to be brought in to settle the fighting. The publicity brought to light the unusual names of these Indigenous gangs. They were all named after Heavy Metal Bands, with the dominating gangs being the Slayer Mob and the Judas Priest Boys.

Photographer Jonathan West ventured the three thousand kilometres from Melbourne to Wadeye mid last year for Vice Magazine.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he found.

Space B

Convent Studio Artist Program

Sal Cooper

The Second Circle

(per me si va tra la perduta gente)

The second circle refers directly to a particular area within Dante’s design of hell; the circle of the lussuriosi or carnal, and by extension refers also to the notion of romantic love as illustrated by the notorious characters of Paolo and Francesca who are situated there. This couple are famous for having had an affair, being discovered and then both murdered by Francesca’s husband. They are found in Dante’s hell, eternally bound together and blown about in the stormy darkness.

Sal has create a visual metaphor for the condition of perceived helplessness and desire as described by Dante.

Project room

Todd Anderson Kunert

I like what you’ve done with the lights

Todd’s work is a reflex of him, trying to get his body to comprehend the uncontrollable environment that surrounds it. This is an ongoing project that manifests itself in different shapes and forms.

Todd is completing a Masters in Fine Art through RMIT.

Gallery 2

Rocio Roman

Transmutación

This project was initiated after my grandfathers death on the 7^th of November 2008. A few days after his passing I received some registered mail, and a box addressed to me. As I began tearing the wrapping off the box I realised it was a shoe box. When I opened the box, my grandfathers shoes that he had worn for 28 years were carefully placed inside.  As a child I would ask my grandfather ‘Why don’t you buy new shoes?’ and his response was ‘ I have hands to fix them.’ When I returned to Chile 15 years ago, I glanced at his feet and he wore the same shoes I had seen before.  I drove down to the main town to buy him new shoes. When I returned and gave him the new shoes, ever so softly he whispered ‘thank you, but you shouldn’t have.’ He never wore them, instead he placed them next to his found book collection in a shelf in his bedroom.

As of the 17^th of November 2008, up until the 12^th May 2009, I began picking up shoes off the streets of Melbourne. All sorts of shoes, men’s, women’s and children’s. Each shoe photographed in it’s found state and each shoe’s address archived in a little black book.  In total 4137 shoes were found in 6 months.

 

Gallery 3

Convent Studio Artist Program

Rick Matear

Merge

 

Rick Matear is renowned for his compelling photo-real depictions of the picturesque coastal area of the Mornington Peninsula. However for the past three years, Matear has been experimenting with the way that diverse cultures influence and enrich one another.

The exhibition involves a series of large-scale expressionistic dot paintings reflective of his love of the Mornington Peninsula, where he has spent every summer holiday he can remember.