Curator talks history and art

EMMA Busowsky is likely the best person to speak to when it comes to Bendigo’s relationship between history and art.

She is the curator of the Bendigo Art Gallery, studied painting herself, and has a Masters of Cultural Heritage.

Recently, in conjunction with the Bendigo Historical Society, Ms Buskowsky presented a talk about art and history, and its relationship to the present.

She said Bendigo’s unique past made it a special place for an association between the two to develop.

“I think that came about right from the beginning with the gold rush that happened here in Bendigo,” she said. “Which at the time was the richest goldfield in the world.

“It was this melting pot of people from all over the globe and this was preceded by the oldest cultural traditions and artistic practices in the world in our First Nations people.

“It was a whole mix of cultures and new ideas and a whole lot of money as well came here and was drawn, literally out of the ground.

“Bendigo Art Gallery was established in 1887. Right from the beginning people here thought valuing the art and that being educative was the social fabric of a vibrant modern city.”

Another correlation between the two is how the art evolves as the world changes and how historical works need to be interpreted for a modern audience, which is a key part of Ms Buskowsky job.

“We have, I think it’s nearly 5000 works in the Bendigo Art Gallery collection,” she said. “We’re always interpreting that work for people today.

“Particularly in relation to working with historic collections and interpreting them for contemporary audiences.”

“We think about things like using inclusive language to try and take awareness of a variety of perspectives, we want to be sensitive to cultural material and ideas of cultural safety.

“Both art and history, provide the means to understand our shared and sometimes conflicted past and its relationship with the present.”