Drop The Dust By Pamela Kouwenhoven and Margaret Worth – Flinders Uni Art Museum (State Library) – Till 29th August

The role of dust in our lives and the decay that leads to becoming dust is well explored in this small exhibition of both two and three dimensional works by these South Australian artists. At the big end, stands a decaying, rusted and old rainwater tank, with detritus from the water held, its decay or role as a collecting vessel assembled at its base. At the other end are ‘dust domes’, six transparent bell jars with architectural models of domestic residences in them that are overwhelmed by dust and other waste that one would commonly expect to exhume from a vacuum cleaner.

In the middle, paintings or panels spread with red dust collected from the Amata Aboriginal settlement. The intensity of these panels give the viewer the opportunity to see them either as cross sections of an ancient outback soil profile or aerial views of a seemingly never ending desert. The whole makes one feel like you have been dropped into the yard of an outback station with domesticity available at short hand but beyond all existing at the whim of the elements.

This is a very Australian exhibition that takes a new look at a very well covered homage to our outback and our ability to survive in it.

Floor talks by the artists, this Saturday, 14th August, at 2pm.

Kryztoff Rating  4K