THE IAN POTTER CENTRE: NGV Australia
24/03/2023 - 20/08/2023
MELBOURNE NOW
Melbourne Now is an exciting new exhibition showcasing the work of over 200 contemporary artists and designers from across Victoria. Bold in scale, Melbourne Now will be displayed throughout all levels of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, including permanent collection galleries, showcasing new works and commissions by emerging, mid-career and senior practitioners as well as local collectives. From fashion and jewellery, painting, sculpture, architecture and ceramics, to video, performance, printmaking and publishing.
Following the recent acquisition of Laura’s work by The National Gallery of Victoria, and she has been invited to exhibit her work in Jewellery Now as part of the newest showcase of contemporary art and design, Melbourne Now Exhibition.
24 MAR–20 AUG 2023
FREE ENTRY
THE IAN POTTER CENTRE: NGV AUSTRALIA, FED SQUARE
The inaugural 2013 exhibition was an unprecedented survey of some of the most exciting local contemporary practitioners. Ten years on, Melbourne Now 2023 will again highlight the latest art, architecture, design, and cultural practice shaping Melbourne.
Laura has also been personally invited to speak on a panel regarding Jewellery Now for the opening weekend of Melbourne Now. Click here for details.
“Jewellery Now provides insight into Melbourne’s dynamic culture of contemporary jewellery practice through the work of fifteen artists and designers. Representative of diverse backgrounds and approaches to jewellery, the practices celebrated in the exhibition reflect a wide variety of material and making traditions, including unexpected approaches that challenge conventional thinking about what constitutes jewellery and its significance today.
Defined by its relationship with the body, jewellery communicates on cultural, social, personal and political levels. As an outward statement to the world, jewellery has always been an important form of material production for conveying messages about the relationships between people and the things they value. These messages are not always overtly articulated, but conveyed subliminally through material, technique, imagery, scale and location on the body.
Foregrounding the skill and conceptual prowess of the artists and designers in Jewellery Now, the sixty new and recent works on display highlight how different materials and forms in jewellery can act as markers of cultural identity and belonging to place. Works include silver neck chains cast from snake vertebrae tied to Country; carved neckpieces depicting endangered Australian fauna made from the timber handles of garden shovels; as well as one-of-a-kind brooches, rings and hairpieces. The works in the exhibition reveal embedded histories and the present-day realities of people, places and materials, allowing us to better understand the implications of jewellery design in Melbourne.”
Simone LeAmon, The Hugh Williamson Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture, NGV
