MEDIA RELEASE

s t u n t i n g

DATES: 30 October - 8 November 1998

Not to be aware of the past is to be forever a child.

But those of us who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

Mankind is the sum of his ancestors.

George Santayana

Reconciliation means different things to different people. We should not rely on only one perception of the way we should continue to be a nation. In this work, Karyn Fearnside has investigated a generalised vehicle of expression. Deep holes are cut into the Parliamentary Hansard, the collected words from the meetings of the Senate and the House of Representatives that are bound in soft covers of red and green. In each book she has set small weavings, intricate embroideries, objects and text. Each Hansard works to create a private world of feeling.

Fearnside visually exploits beauty to describe the often horrendous. If a person can be drawn in by beauty, they will look at the work and it can then communicate its story on a personal level.

Karyn Fearnside was the CCAS/Gorman House Arts Centre Artist in Residence (Jul-Dec 98) as part of the ANU Canberra School of Art's Emerging Artists Support Scheme.

The CCAS is supported by the ACT Government through its Cultural Council and the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts funding & advisory body.