DATES:
Saturday 15 Feburary 10:30am – 12:30pm
Saturday 1 March 10:30am – 12:30pm
Saturday 14 March 10:30 – 12:30pm
COST: Free
Details
A series of three workshops in conjunction with the unconditional exhibition by John Brookes.
Take part in three workshops aimed at giving the community an interactive voice in the exhibition. Each workshop will commence with a short presentation by the artist on his rationale and choices behind unconditional, before being thrown open to attendees to discuss and critique the exhibition. This will be widened into a debate on the process and pitfalls of expressing personal emotions in a public forum, using unconditional as a starting point. The artist will capture key points on a whiteboard. Attendees will be encouraged to discuss their own experiences and expressions of love, and how they would seek / have sought to represent these through art; with reasons for their chosen media, imagery etc.
Attendees will be encouraged to bring along any existing relevant artwork – preferably on love, but possibly other emotions – to augment the discussion. There will ample opportunity to create a piece during the workshop based on the discussions. Creations will feature in the Exhibition alongside other public submissions gained through a call-out for display online on the AV scrolling screen in the Gallery this forms the second community engagement strand….
About the Artist
John has over 30 years in arts marketing in the public, government, commercial and disability charity sectors across the UK, Fiji and Australia. He has worked for the London Police Volunteer Scheme, Royal National Institute of the Blind, Fiji Paralympic Team and Victim Support among others; and has organised events at the Tate Modern and London’s Royal Festival Hall. He was awarded the a Police Commendation and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022, for his public service work.
As well as exhibiting locally since emigrating 14 years ago, he previously worked for two years with the Spinal Injuries Association of Fiji following Hurricane Winston, documenting relief efforts, and promoting disability arts as a form of healing after the disaster. He is a previous recipient of the of the ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Award for Excellence in Volunteer Support and nominee for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
John is now an Australian citizen living in Canberra and is active in the local arts sector, using a range of media from pencil drawing, poetry and ceramics, to photography and digital art.
Much of his work explores the gap between what we assume or believe truth to be and what truth is. “Pictures of You”, for instance took a series of disabled people who worked actively with the artist to produce a self-portrait and narrative that they felt truly represented themselves as people. Two other recent shows were “Dark Snow” highlighting the disparity between the pureness of the local snowy mountains with the environmental impacts of tourism and settlement there, and high-profile exhibition entitled “DISCRIMINATE”, a satirical take on media portrayal of disability using the style of 1940s Propaganda posters. This gained local, national and overseas media coverage.
John strongly believes in giving a voice to the individual, to people telling their own stories in unique and thought-provoking ways and becoming true collaborators in the exhibition. This is a strong theme in unconditional, the subject matter of love being a highly personal and uniquely individual emotion.