Modulations: Re calling the blood tears
Saturday, April 09, 2011 -
Monday, June 13, 2011,
-
Admission: Free
Lyn Plummer is an installation artist whose practice has
explored notions of ritual and religion over a thirty year
period.
Modulations has been visualized as a series of
installations that sets up a sense of pilgrimage: one which extends
over a number of years and encompasses conceptually both the artist
and the viewer.
Observers who experience the evolution of the installation from
one gallery space to another can sense how the meanings of
the pieces change and take on new meanings in the different spaces.
New works are introduced into the series in response to the
different galleries. Many of the new pieces added during the
current procession of this series, are responses to a recent visit
to Spain, to observe and participate in the Andalucían Semana Santa
(Easter) processions.
While each of the earlier installations in the series
concentrated on a sense of ecclesiastical rituals and their
underlying meanings, this installation concentrates on the singular
and lonely anguish of the bereaved. The mother, the sister, the
wife, the lover, the comrade, who mourn and honour the loss of
their beloved one.
This installation responds to the Gallery as custodian of the
Eureka Flag, which symbolises the end of a metaphorical journey
through the transplanting of cultural values to the new world, to
the emergence of a national identity. The artist has also responded
to the conjunction in 2011 of Easter and Anzac Day, which brings
together a moveable observance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
determined by the lunar cycle, with a singular date set in
perpetuity in Australasia as the anniversary and commemoration of
the iniquitous loss of life in the incessant cycle of the battles
of war.
A vital element of the installation is the sound track by
composer Mark Finsterer. The space and the mind are permeated by
the echoes of prayer and of the lament of military loss.