We have all felt like outsiders at one time or another. For many, it is a seldom and isolated experience, comforted by the knowledge that it is temporary and will pass. The assurance of a home and place of belonging can pull us back into a sense of security. For many though, temporary lasts forever. Whether the decision to leave home and homeland is sought freely or is forced, being on the outside can become an unwavering reality.
Between Suns explores this anxiety as a universal emotion that is foregrounded and heightened in diasporic experiences. In negotiating the complexities of migrational transition, many people, including the participating artists, have created identities that allow them to exist across multiple social realms. What emerges is an experience-led reflection on the politics of location, the impermanence of home, and the sense of isolation shared by those on society’s peripheries.
Through a selection of time-based works, Between Suns imparts rare insight into the personal narratives and daily rituals of the artists and their communities. The works expose the intricate layering of social realities within an everyday Australian experience and demonstrate the capacity of contemporary art to produce transformative modes of acknowledging, reconciling and healing.
Bridging past and present as well as the geographic distances that define relationships to place, the artists demonstrate creative resilience as they navigate between inherited cultural identities and new social structures. In doing so, they simultaneously inform and transform viewers’ own perceptions of home.
Between Suns is our first socially-engaged and partnership-driven project with artists living and working in NSW. Also premiering as part of the exhibition the newly commissioned short film by Egyptian filmmaker Mona Ibrahim. A specially curated selection of artworks by the Refugee Art Project is presented in the Cement Fondu Project Space. These artworks will be for sale with 100% of proceeds donated to the Refugee Art Project.
Image Credits
Mona Ibrahim, Time, 2015, 11:36 min, image: courtesy the artist
James Nguyen, Pure Water, 2018, 4:13 min, image: Nguyen Thi Kim Nhung & James Nguyen
Khaled Sabsabi, Ali or 3li, 2005, 2 channel SD video & audio installation. Courtesy the artist.
EXHIBITION
BETWEEN SUNS
ARTISTS
MONA IBRAHIM
SHIVANJANI LAL
JAMES NGUYEN
KHALED SABSABI
PHAPTAWAN SUWANNAKUDT
EXHIBITION LAUNCH
LAUNCH EVENT CURATED BY 2 BOYS IN SARIS
SATURDAY 21 JULY
2PM-4PM
EXHIBITION DATES
21 JULY – 16 SEPTEMBER
2018
EVENTS
PERFORMANCE: JAMES NGUYEN
SATURDAY 28 JULY
3.30PM
REFUGEE ART PROJECT AUCTION
SATURDAY 4 AUGUST
5PM
BETWEEN SUNS: JAZZ NIGHT WITH EDWARD LYONS & FRIENDS
FRIDAY 17 AUGUST
7PM
THAI COMMUNITY DAY
SATURDAY 25 AUGUST
2PM-5PM
BETWEEN SUNS: ARTIST TALKS
SATURDAY 1
SEPTEMBER
3PM
OPENING HOURS
THURSDAY – SUNDAY
11AM-5PM
THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY THE NSW GOVERNMENT THROUGH CREATE NSW
THANKS TO OUR PRIMARY PRINT AND PROJECTION PARTNER EPSON