Beneath the Empire - Flinders lane Gallery Upstairs

These are some prints from an exhibition in May 2008 with Ben Mckeown and Paul Kalemba.
Beneath the Empire is a group exhibition exploring the influence of Australia's Colonial history and its relationship to culture, identity, place and environment. The exhibition showcased the works of three Melbourne based artists from diverse backgrounds, who themselves are a Product of shared colonial histories.

For me I was interested in the decorative arts and a relationship to place and landscape. I took these aerial photos while on holiday in western Australia and overlay them with designs derived form Australian bush flowers that created beautiful moments of visual synchronicity.

Eden of Margaret Preston

Habitat of Fiona Hall

Garden of Olive Pink

Vessel of Lallah Rookh (Truganinni)

Abode of Clarice Beckett

The prints were titled after Australian female icons, all were pioneers of culture in one form or another. Their lives draw a line through a certain history that I would like my audience to consider. By following their stories we can explore a recent history of culture in Australia from colonial times up until today with a focus on, landscape, native flora, fauna and indigenous culture.

Review MCV
Lucy Elliot
Beneath the Empire
Tuesday, 06 May 2008
Upstairs Flinders Gallery

Beneath the Empire is a group show by three artists who explore the idea of ‘location’ in terms of nationality, imperialism and social difference. Each artist is interested in colonialism in Australian history how it has shaped their own identity.
For Ben McKeown, this has meant a self-reflective concern with his own Indigenous and gay identities; for Nicola Page it’s meant subtly drawing on her own experience of family migration; and for Paul Kalemba, an engagement with the environmental impact of colonisation.
A range of media including painting, drawing, printmaking and installation are used in the exhibition. Whilst the concerns of each artist are particular to their own experience, collectively the works come together to express a shared concern with issues surrounding social justice and environmental degradation.
Nicola Page has created beautiful prints exploring the idea of categorisation. The works consist of prints of aerial photographs of landscapes, overlayed with large, superimposed shapes. The pieces reference Australian women artists who have shown an interest in the environment and Australian history, with the connection between nature and culture one that Page is interested in exploring. Their titles are a kind of reclamation or re-mapping of place through the experiences of women artists: ‘Habitat of Fiona Hall’, ‘Garden of Olive Pink’ and ‘Eden of Margaret Preston’.
Paul Kalemba has created meticulous ink drawings inspired by the design of Australian coins. Each of the drawings takes an Australian native animal and places it in an environment that reflects signs of colonisation. The animals are displaced in time and place, with remnants of degradation surrounding them. The actual process of creating the works, which involves hours of drawing, brings Kalemba close to his animal subjects and imbues them with strong personalities.
Ben McKeown’s paintings draw on his experience of living in his traditional country on the west coast of South Australia, and his more recent experiences of living in Melbourne. The works combine traditional dot painting with abstraction to create a visual language highlighting McKeown’s relationship with location and past and present Australian history.
Beneath the Empire offers the viewer both a visually appealing experience, and the invitation to consider the impact of colonialism on the Australian landscape.