Building on previous works, ‘The Garden’ expands on Melbourne-based artist Julia McInerney’s interest in translation between text and material forms, as well as the biblical and botanical significance of the apple. The exhibition comprises new photographic works, hand-carved Applewood sculptures, enigmatic photography and a large-scale floor installation of more than 250 hand-cast concrete tiles, all ordered and contained in a monochromatic vista.
Through her ongoing interest in studies of literature and reading, McInerney approaches Walter Benjamin’s idea of ‘reading oneself backwards’, inviting audiences to contemplate how our recollection of past events inform our present and future experiences. ‘The Garden’ is one of two ACE Open South Australian Artist Commissions for 2018, alongside Gerry Wedd’s ‘SONGS FOR A ROOM’.
Julia McInerney, Fallen Applewood, 2018, 35mm research photograph. Courtesy the artist and GAGPROJECTS | Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide and Berlin
‘This new body of work has its origins in a package I received from Ireland containing a collection of apple seeds carefully concelaed inside Irish tea bags. It was sent by artist Juliette de le Mer whom I met in Berlin whilst on route to Dublin to undertake a residency at Fire Station Artist’s Studios in 2014,’ said McInerney. ‘I was collecting apple seeds for a sculptural work at the time, which Juliette noted and offered to collect the seeds from her apples too. Over the course of a year or more Juliette collected the seeds every time she ate an apple. Two years later this package arrived in my letterbox.’
ACE Open
Until 15 September, 2018
South Australia
