2017 art
It’s Australia Day, or Invasion Day, depending on your perspective. My photographic series, ‘Plenty’, is currently showing at Hazelhurst Gallery in Gymea as part of the ‘Palimpsest’ exhibition.
2016 art
National Works On Paper at Mornington Peninsula Regional Art Gallery is “one of Australia’s most prestigious awards and acquisitive exhibitions” for art created on or with paper. It’s a total privilege to have my work The Timeless Land/Wentworth (from my series The Timeless Land) selected for the show this year. The exhibition opens on July 16, and is open Tues-Sun until September 11.
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In late November I reluctantly abandoned my convalescing husband, and travelled to Adelaide to visit my Mum and rest of the family in commemoration of my late sister Kate’s 40th birthday. Mum and I enjoyed a long-planned trip to visit the Grampians in Victoria – staying in Mt. Zero, a location where she and Kate had stayed many years ago. In spite of some wild and windy weather we had a poignant time revisiting the places she had been with Kate. Here is a record of the trip, including some images taken in another of Kate’s favourite places, the Belair National Park.
2014 art
The Art on Paper Award at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery is a biennial prize awarded for art created on or with paper. For me it’s a lovely exhibition to be selected for as it’s a beautiful space, and on my ‘home ground’. So happy that one of the works from my series The Timeless Land was selected, along with another piece from the Recovering Roots exhibition: The Futurist’s Dilemma series by Chris Lawrie. It’s opening tonight! The show will be on daily until July 26.
Read more about The Timeless Land series | See The Timeless Land images
2014 art
In December 2014 we travelled along the NSW-Victorian coast, to:
Myer House – Bithry Inlet, Mimosa Rocks NP – a restored holiday house owned by Kenneth Myer and Roy Grounds, and donated to NPWS, now available for public rental.
Geelong and Melbourne visiting friends and galleries.
Camping along the coast from Port Albert via Marlo, Ben Boyd NP, Mimosa Rocks NP, and Murramarang NP.
Inspired by a workshop with the fabulous Shona Wilson, along the way I began to create some ‘ephemeral’ natural art images. Shona completed ephemeral art works one-a-day for a whole year, and I began to realise what a challenge this is. The ephemeral images I created are extremely simple, just rearranging a few items, or occasionally selecting a natural arrangement.
My favourite piece is this floating twig/cloud triptych from the lagoon at Marlo, at the mouth of the Snowy River.
2013 art
Here’s the next in a set of portfolios of my photographic work produced over the last ten years. This one, Sacred sites: Exploration, has images composed from photos taken in exploring the Australian outback and bush over the last few years, combined with some song lyrics that have been inspired by my travels. Readings of the history of the settlement and exploration of Australia have influenced these works – this is further explored in my next portfolio, Wounded Country – stay tuned 🙂
All the portfolios can be purchased directly from Momento Shop (search for Belinda Allen).
2013 art
I have been wanting to try out photobooks for a while, but having looked at a few sites I didn’t like how clunky and inflexible the layout software seemed to be, and was concerned about the production quality. Then I found Momento Pro, which is a service for professional photographers and artists. I can use professional layout software (Adobe InDesign); the prices are higher, but the quality is amazing. So I have started to compile a set of portfolios of my photographic work produced over the last ten years. This one, Sacred sites: Royal National Park, has images composed from photos taken in the national park where I have lived for the last 23 years.
Check out a preview here where it can be purchased directly from Momento Shop 🙂
2009 welcome to country
Compiling another of my portfolios, I’ve been revisiting my series ‘Wounded Country‘, which combines texts relating to the early Christianisation of Australia, with representations of archetypal Australian flora and fauna. In particular it uses the anthropomorphic forms and wounded skin of native angophoras as representative of the violence done to indigenous environment and culture. The images combine: photographs from the Royal National Park and other Sydney locations; texts and artefacts of early settlement; vintage book pages. These works were completed between 2001 and 2009.
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Images from my ‘Alien in our midst…’ series have been picked up by Avant Card for distribution to their usual outlets – keep a look out and grab yourself some FREE postcards 🙂
BTW, anyone can submit images to the Avant Card Artist Project.
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Although we visited Tasmania late in 2011, such is life that I have only recently been exploring the photographs taken there. It was a tantalising glimpse of an island with inspiring, changeable and atmospheric landscapes, as well as a brutal history. As a site for both the sacred and profane, it is well represented by the MONA collection of David Walsh. Here are some mandalas from this first visit, I hope to return later and spend longer.
