Chris De Rosa: when the sea calls me home
September 21 - November 10, 2024
Gallery 3
Exhibition launch Sunday September 29 at 2-4pm
Guest Opening Speaker Anna Zagala - Curator Samstag Museum of Art
The shoreline and ocean have informed my life and practice for decades.
On most mornings year-round, I plunge into the ocean and immerse myself into a new and ever-changing watery realm.
Since moving to the coast over twenty years ago I have become more acutely aware of the daily changes to the shoreline and the plethora of organisms and detritus that wash up on it.
In the past few years there have been unusual (to me) ecological occurrences which have made me reflect on the wonder and fragility of these organisms and the threat placed on the oceanic environment. One evening years ago while walking on the shore we were confronted by thousands of dead sea squirts and for the following month the shore was covered with all manner of creatures dying on the sand; It seemed like some kind of warning. More recently there was an extended bloom of jellyfish the like of which I hadn’t ever seen before. These kinds of events hint at Ballardian dystopian futures where our activities and industries have polluted the ecosystem to the point where those organisms may change physically but still survive and possibly threaten us as a species.
For me, the activity of making in the studio is a way of thinking and reflecting on this environment. The making is my way of interrogating this information and trying to let that thinking be imbued in the finished works. This activity is quasi-experimental. I collect objects and information of interest which I reflect upon in the studio and then through a series of ‘experiments’ and periods of play begin to make objects and prints. I see the activity as both my way of dealing with this overload of information and of producing works that may unveil the wondrousness of this oceanic world and the threat placed upon it.
Chris De Rosa will be running a kids workshop. - details coming soon
Chris De Rosa, 2024, mixed media
Chris De Rosa, 2024, mixed media
BIO
Chris De Rosa lives in Kantjinwald / Port Elliot, unceded Ngarrindjeri / Ramindjeri land where, on most days she dives into an aqueous world full of wonder. Her practice examines our conflicted physical and cultural relationship with the natural world through printmaking, installation, film, and sculpture. Exploring and reframing historical collections is a core element of her practice.
She has undertaken a number of research projects at the Natural History Museum, London, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dhorn, Naples, and the Victorian and South Australian Herbariums. She recently exhibited a major body of work in installation form at the Museum of Economic Botany, Adelaide Botanic Gardens.
Chris investigates the relationships between institutions and examines the ways dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. She photographs, preserves and documents both terrestrial and aquatic organisms that inhabit the coastline and creates mementos of elements of the natural world that are often overlooked or unseen.
In 2024 Australian Print Workshop invited her to undertake a residency as part of their Collaborative Print Project .
De Rosa’s work is held in private and public collections nationwide, including the National Gallery of Australia, Print Council of Australia, Australian Print Workshop, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery.