What’s on at the gallery, September 4, 2016

Visitors will experience a wonderful array of artworks which truly reflect the talent and creativity of artists with disability from across the Riverina, including contributions from Wagga and Temora.

Twelve months of hard work and innovation have resulted in a tremendous range of work in many different techniques and artforms, including drawing, printmaking, painting, mixed media, sculpture and garden art.

While the works may be diverse in style and form, they all demonstrate the artists’ shared passion and commitment to their art, in a celebration of their ability.

Art to Crow About is open to the public until Sunday, October 16, in the Links Gallery exhibition space.

Art to Crow About is supported by PRIME7, 2WG AM, Warburn Estate, Wagga Picture Frames, and the Phil and Joan Millard Trust Fund.

THE issues and opportunities confronting Australia’s Indigenous people with disability are under the spotlight in Unfinished Business, a multi-media exhibition now on display at Wagga Art Gallery.

Unfinished Business, by award-winning artist Belinda Mason and filmmakers Knierim Brothers, captures on film the stories of 30 people with disability from Australian First Nation communities.

Unfinished Business was developed in close collaboration with Indigenous participants and the stories that they tell are their own and that of their people.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with disability to access programs and support services they must feel recognised and empowered to do so.

The exhibition is an important acknowledgement to Indigenous persons that their plight is recognised and being addressed.

The exhibition brings a strong message for people with a disability that they are not alone.

Through their involvement in the project, each participant draws much-needed attention to critical issues that impact on their lives.

Each lives with a wide range of disability experiences - acquired, congenital, sensory, psychological, intellectual, visible and invisible.

Every story is complex and intertwined with Australia’s political and social history, which has resulted in today’s high rates of disability in Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities.

Belinda Mason worked with the participants over 24 months, with each personal story taking up to 60 hours to capture and record.

“We cannot argue when someone says ‘I feel’, it’s not our right. It is part of our own journey to learn empathy rather than compassion. Our own reaction exposes us to ourselves, and our ability to listen when someone lays their naked soul in our path,” she said.

Unfinished Business is on display in the Margaret Carnegie Gallery at Wagga Art Gallery until Sunday, October 30.