Lifeblood

26 July – 17 August 2024

Despard Gallery, in association with Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, is proud to host a special collaborative exhibition featuring Indigenous painter Joanne Currie Nalingu, exhibiting alongside contemporary sculptor Michael Eather and emerging Tasmanian artist Rosanagh May.

 Lifeblood features a new suite of major paintings by renowned Indigenous artist Joanne Currie Nalingu, each piece inspired from her earliest memories of the Maranoa River where she grew up, capturing its spirit with her distinctively minimal linear patterning.  With a career spanning over twenty-five years, Nalingu’s practice honours the traditions of indigenous painting, whilst simultaneously critiquing contemporary social issues, stating her paintings describe how the river is an important living entity, becoming a cultural metaphor for indigenous identity.

Exhibiting alongside Nalingu will be the sculptural works of contemporary artist, curator and gallerist Michael Eather and emerging Tasmanian artist Rosanagh May. Eather will be exhibiting his large-scale fibreglass stingray sculptures finished in automotive paint, described as mystical messenger’s and a symbol of freedom that crosses cultures and ideologies. Eather will also be presenting new bronze works, which are being exhibited for the first time.  With multiple wall-based ceramic pieces Rosanagh May has created a collection titled the ‘Sea Of Love’, combining detailed illustration of numerous marine creatures, each carrying small excerpts from love songs, with secret messages of desire and intimacy. May’s use of song lyrics stems from an appreciation of how music can help articulate personal connections and remind us of the importance life’s small pleasures.

Each artist work finds commonality through the element of water and its importance as a living entity, becoming a symbol for cultural identity, an enveloping space of intimacy and emotional depth, as well as a home to creatures that embody spiritual freedom.