Curators: Kate Parker and Ella McDonald

Each year Watch This Space showcases a new wave of emerging artists recently graduated from Perth’s leading tertiary institutions including Curtin University, Edith Cowan University and Central Institute of Technology.

Being an artist is a risky business. It’s a seemingly romantic pursuit but the reality is often quite different.  At a time when commercial galleries are struggling to stay open and traditional exhibition opportunities for artists at all stages of their career are dwindling, it’s important to support artists making their first forays into their professional career.

In 2015 the exhibition features the work of Tessa Beale, Kathleen Bloomfield-Gibbs, Jason Dirstein, Jane Hamilton, Jonathan Holding, Carly Lynch, Jazmin Mckechnie, Michael Rankin, Kat Scarff, Emma Schrader and Jennifer Sims.

Rather than exhaustively surveying the vast array of work from WA’s recent graduates, Watch This Space follows a thread of commonality that runs through the work of the 11 exhibiting artists. In one way or another, each of the works deals with collection; the collection of objects, information, ideas or feelings.

Found objects inform the work of Jonathan Holding’s small, eclectic sculptures while Kat Scarff’s beautiful collections of discarded fragments explore the passing of time and decay. Through large scale drawing and sculpture Carly Lynch questions the traditional methods of history collection while Kathleen Bloomfield-Gibbs documents journeys and mapping in her subtle prints and drawings. Jennifer Simms’ intimate video work captures moments in time through the exploration of writing and the body and underscores the quiet contemplative nature of the exhibition as a whole.

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Image: Jennifer Sims, Sequence Divulging Self, video still
Kathleen Bloomfield- Gibbs, Two-tone Coastline, etching
Tessa Beale, Glacier 12, intaglio print on paper