New exhibition a display of student dedication

GRADUATING students from La Trobe University’s visual arts department celebrated the culmination of a year’s artistic practice last week with the opening of their group show.

In a Tangle is on in the Phyllis Palmer Gallery and comprises the work of eight third year and two honours year students.

Dr Kylie Banyard, senior lecturer of visual arts at La Trobe said the exhibition was a launching pad for graduating students about to embark on careers in visual arts.

“For the students it’s their way to celebrate the artwork and to step back, when you take your work out of the studio and see it a different context in the gallery, it’s really rewarding,” she said.

The exhibition includes a selection of works by honours student Karima Baadilla, whose thesis project examined how the colonial histories of Australia and Indonesia influenced her identity as a migrant settler.

“I’m trying to find ways to play and redefine my moving identity,” Baadilla said. “That’s why I’ve got objects and I sue different installations to show the fragmented aspects of my identity.”

Baadilla’s body of work is comprised of new ceramic pieces cast from found molds, wrapped objects, and oil paintings of the Australian landscape which she draws or paints over.

“I want it to have a mixed identity, which is what it is right, colours that are contemporary, shapes that are colonial, but also colours that I like” she said.

Baadilla said she felt supported at La Trobe to explore new approaches to her practice and form connections with the other third year and honours students.

“Because it’s so small we kind of get to know each other, and that’s been really nice,” she said.

To accompany the exhibition, students and staff worked together to create a limited-edition booklet with a screen-printed cover.

“Not many people are making print publications anymore,” Dr Banyard said. “We’ve got a technician who’s really passionate about it, so it’s a point of difference really from other places.”

In a Tangle is on until 8 of December in the Phyllis Palmer Gallery at the La Trobe Bendigo campus, which is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.