Parched Opening Celebration

This event celebrates the opening of La Trobe Art Institute’s summer exhibition, Parched.

Curated by Professor Jacqueline Millner, La Trobe Art Institute Director Dr Karen Annett and La Trobe Art Institute Curatorial Lead Amelia Wallin, Parched is a new research-led exhibition featuring the work of eight Australian artists.

Artists: Alvin Darcy, Jesse Boylan with Adam John Cullen, Nici Cumpston, Treahna Hamm, Ponch Hawkes, Yaseera Moosa, Shirely Purdie

The exhibition draws together artworks from across Australia, with an eye to the southeast, to explore representations of drought.

As what was formerly categorised as ‘extreme weather’ increasingly becomes our every day, how can we imagine, prepare for, and adapt to a changed climate?

Drought, in particular, is often seen as a defining characteristic of Australian settler folklore. To expand our understanding of how drought is experienced and represented across timescales, this exhibition gathers First Nations knowledge and settler perspectives. From the impact of flood and drought on Country, to the personal and economic toll felt by framers, to soil as a carrier of information and the slow violence of dust, the artworks reflect on the ongoing impacts of a changed climate and how we might best respond.

This exhibition is one of the outcomes of the La Trobe University interdisciplinary research project Parched: Cultures of Drought in Regional Victoria which explores how we can more meaningfully understand drought to help us towards a just climate transition.

• Parched: Cultures of Drought Research Team
  • Professor Katie Holmes, Director of La Trobe University’s Centre for the Study of the Inland, La Trobe University
  • Associate Provost, Research and Industry Engagement, Lawrie Zion, La Trobe University
  • Emeritus Professor Sue Martin, La  Trobe University
  • Associate Professor Visual Arts, Jacqueline Millner, La trobe University
  • Dr Linden Ashcroft, University of Melbourne
  • Dr Thomas H Ford, La Trobe University
  • Dr Karen Twigg, La Trobe University
  • Dr Rochelle Schoff, La Trobe University