To be presented over multiple iterations, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) presents West of Central – an inaugural flagship exhibition that showcases the creative generators that are regional communities.
West of Central celebrates artists who choose to live and work regionally, resituating and recentering regional experiences. Home to an increasing cohort of contemporary artists, regional Australia is a place where artists have space to create, experiment, respond and challenge.
West of Central presents the work of 17 regionally based artists, many of whom make work on Wiradjuri Country in the Central Tablelands of NSW. Among the emergent concerns in this earth-centric first iteration are the impacts of human intervention on our surrounding ecologies, and the ongoing colonial legacy.
From the Blue Mountains and beyond, West of Central features artists Aleshia Lonsdale, Anne Graham, Bill Moseley, Blak Douglas, Caitlin Graham, Georgina Pollard, Genevieve Carroll, Dan Kojta, Jason Wing, Joyce Hinterding and David Haines, June Golland, Karla Dickens, Leo Cremonese, Maddison Gibbs, Nicole Welch, and Vicky Browne.
Across the exhibition the artists’ care, concern and respect for the country is matched by their affective response to place and the lands and waterways on which they live and work, from sacred Wahluu/Mount Panorama and Wambuul Macquarie River, to the Blue Mountains and the Baarka Darling.
Through a range of approaches, from poetics to activism, West of Central artists address the wave of pressures playing out in the region’s farms, cattle studs, wineries, olive plantations, tourist destinations, State parks, World Heritage and sacred sites, including Ganguddy, home of the last surviving Wollemi pines, a tree that dates back to the age of dinosaurs.
For these and the many issues for which regional populations are on the frontline, West of Central is a platform centring the voices of regional artists as the witnesses of our time. A BRAG exhibition with the curatorium, Ann Finegan, Alex Pedley and Alex Robinson.
West of Central
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG), 70 – 78 Keppel Street, Bathurst
Exhibition continues to 27 August 2023
Free entry
For more information, visit: www.bathurstart.com.au for details.
Image: West of Central, installation view at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery – photo by David Roma Photography