Australia - My Horizon

With just over six weeks until the official launch of the 57th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, the Australia Council for the Arts today revealed the photograph Hell – one of the extraordinary works that will be featured in Tracey Moffatt’s exhibition MY HORIZON at the Australian Pavilion in Venice.

This exhibition of entirely new work will be officially launched in the second week of May 2017 in Venice. It features two major large-scale photographic series and two video works. The exhibition explores journeys – both legal and illegal – and alludes to issues of race and gender, sexuality, desire, identity, and human connection and estrangement.

Hell, the work revealed by Moffatt at her Sydney studio today, is one of 12 large scale photographs from the series Passage which is set in a mysterious dockland. A mother, a motorcycle police officer and a sharply dressed character whom the artist calls ‘the middleman’ enact a drama that is, as Moffatt says, as “old as time itself. People throughout history and across cultures have always escaped across borders to seek new lives.”

On MY HORIZON, Moffatt said: “I have taken my camera into unknown locations and created photodramas, using models, actors and people I find on the street. My stories meld fiction, fact and some aspects of my family history but I have wanted to extend my filmic narratives into imaginary realms. The horizon line encapsulated in the title MY HORIZON can represent a yearning for escape to another place.”

Commissioner for Australia, Naomi Milgrom AO said: “It is a special moment in our history, to have Tracey Moffatt’s work represent Australia at this most prestigious international art event. Tracey has forged an extensive, celebrated international career with her meticulously constructed narratives exploring race, gender, sexuality and displacement. Using a language rich with cinematic history and deeply poetic imagery,MY HORIZON deals with many of the issues that occupy our minds today.”

Curator Natalie King said: “MY HORIZON is capacious, open, expansive and personal – an exhibition that references film, art and the epic history of photography, as well as aspects of her family history.”

Through photography and film, Tracey Moffatt creates highly stylised narratives and montage. She first received critical acclaim with the short film Night Cries which was selected for official competition at Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature film, bedevil, was also selected for Cannes in 1993, and in 1997 she was invited to exhibit in the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale. An exhibition at the Dia Centre for the Arts in New York followed, consolidating her international reputation.

Since then Moffatt has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries across the globe, with more than 100 international exhibitions including a highly prestigious 2012 solo show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Accompanying the exhibition will be a major new book co-published by Thames and Hudson and the Australia Council, and edited by Natalie King. Hell is the cover image for this definitive survey of MY HORIZON, which features contributions from a range of Australian and international writers and academics. Major essays from Alexis Wright, Djon Mundine OAM and Natalie King respond in powerful ways to MY HORIZON both as an entire exhibition and individual works. The book also charts Tracey Moffatt’s personal inspirations for this new series of work.

Australia Council Chair Rupert Myer AO said that this glimpse into Tracey’s evocative new work confirms why MY HORIZON is such a highly anticipated exhibition.

“This wonderful event has had a profound impact on Australia’s international arts profile through the decades of artists who have come before. Tracey is an extraordinary artist who will richly add to the artistic and cultural legacy of Australia in Venice,” Mr Myer said. “I would like to thank Naomi, Natalie, Tracey and the Australia Council’s Venice team for their dedication and significant efforts to reach today’s milestone, and wish them well as we approach the opening of MY HORIZON in May.”

Established in 1895, the Venice Biennale is the world’s oldest and most prestigious biennale of international contemporary art. Unique for its dual exhibition model, the Venice Biennale comprises of a curated show and individual exhibitions of ‘national participations’. It is an important platform for countries to affirm their nation’s artistic and cultural identity.

The Australia Council has been proud to support and manage the Australian representation at the Venice Biennale since 1978, leveraging and positioning Australia as a key player in the visual arts internationally. Australia’s representation at the Venice Biennale began in 1954, and since then 38 distinguished contemporary visual artists have exhibited under the Australia banner with the support of the Australian Council. Past Australian representation has included Fiona Hall (2015), Patricia Piccinini (2003), Bill Henson (1995), Rover Thomas and Trevor Nickolls (1990), Sir Arthur Streeton and Arthur Boyd AC OBE (1958).

Australia Council announces Tracey Moffatt’s 2017 Venice Biennale exhibition

The Australia Council for the Arts today announced the exhibition title for Tracey Moffatt’s solo exhibition in the Australian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale. Moffatt will present MY HORIZON. The installation will comprise all new work, including large-scale photography and film. “MY HORIZON is very open and can be read in many ways,” said Moffatt. “The horizon line can represent the far and distant future or the unobtainable. There are times in life when we all can see what is ‘coming over the horizon’. This is when we make a move. Or we do nothing and just wait for whatever it is to arrive.” Through photography and film, Moffatt creates highly stylized narratives and montage to explore a range of themes including the complexities of interpersonal relationships, the curiousness of popular culture, and her own deeply felt childhood memories and fantasies. “This will be an insightful and deeply moving exhibition, one that extends Tracey’s acclaimed body of work and cements her position as one of Australia’s most successful artists - someone who consistently takes the tempo of our times,” said Naomi Milgrom AO, Australia’s Commissioner for the 2017 Venice Biennale. The exhibition, to be launched in May 2017, will be accompanied by a major new book, published and distributed by Thames & Hudson. This will be the first time an artist representing Australia at the Venice Biennale will have a globally distributed accompanying publication. Exhibition Curator and publication editor Natalie King said, “MY HORIZON will present a compendium of texts that reflect on Tracey’s highly political and deeply personal fictions, allowing readers to ponder what might be over the horizon.” Moffatt first received critical acclaim with the short film Night Cries which was selected for official competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature film, bedevil was also selected for Cannes in 1993, and in 1997 she was invited to exhibit in the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale. An exhibition at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York followed, consolidating her international reputation. Since then Moffatt has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries across the globe, with more than 100 international exhibitions including a highly prestigious 2012 solo show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. She also received the 2007 Infinity Award for Art from New York’s esteemed International Center of Photography. Moffatt will be the second artist to exhibit in the award-winning Australia Pavilion in Venice’s Giardini. The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government’s principal arts funding and advisory body. Australia’s participation at the Venice Biennale began in 1954, and has been managed by the Australia Council since 1978. #BiennaleArte2017

Tracey Moffatt per l'Australia

L'artista Tracey Moffatt rappresenterà alla prossima Biennale l'Australia.

Dal sito  Australia Council 

The Australia Council for the Arts today announced Tracey Moffatt has been selected to represent Australia at the 57th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale 2017.

Tracey Moffatt will be the sole artist exhibiting at the Australian Pavilion in the Giardini, with the exhibition to be curated by Natalie King.

Venice Biennale 2017 Commissioner Naomi Milgrom AO said she was thrilled that Tracey had agreed to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2017. “With a career spanning over 25 years, Tracey is one of Australia’s celebrated and differentiated contemporary artists, invigorating the art scene both locally and internationally. Tracey is the first Australian Indigenous artist to present a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale marking this appointment as significant, bold and inspirational. A moment to be celebrated by all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, as it will be by all Australians.”

Tracey Moffatt said she was privileged and very excited to be invited to develop a solo exhibition in the Australian Pavilion.

“Last week when Commissioner Naomi Milgrom telephoned to inform me that it was to be me Ms Moffatt for Venice in 2017 I was a little in shock,” Ms Moffatt said.

“Naomi Milgrom and the wonderful curator Natalie King and I will indeed enjoy our Venice 2017 journey together and we three will make sure that we keep up the humour.

“But we three are dead serious about art. Naomi with her collecting and commissioning, Natalie who has worked as a curator for more than half her life and as for me, I haven’t really had a life; I’ve only had art.

“I’ve already started on my artworks for the Australian Pavilion. Thank you, this is a privilege for me.”

 Tracey Moffatt is one of Australia’s most successful artists, both nationally and internationally. Highly regarded for her formal and stylistic experimentation in film, photography and video, her work draws on the history of cinema, art and photography as well as popular culture and her own childhood memories and fantasies.

Tracey has held around 100 solo exhibitions in Europe, the United States and Australia. Some of her films have been selected for the Cannes Film Festival and in 1997, she was invited to exhibit in the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale. In 2016 the Art Gallery of NSW will present Laudanum and other works, which will provide an in-depth study of her use of the still and moving image.

Australia Council Chair Rupert Myer AO said the Council was extremely pleased to have one of Australia’s most prominent contemporary artists exhibiting at the pavilion. “The Venice Biennale is the most important and prestigious event on the international contemporary arts calendar and the Council considers our involvement to be an important part of the way we promote Australian artists to international audiences,” Mr Myer said.

“At this year’s Biennale, which closed on 22 November, a record 287,690 people visited the new Australian Pavilion to see Fiona Hall’s wondrous installation, and we are delighted to now build on this momentum into 2017 with Tracey Moffatt.”

Tracey’s exhibition will be curated by Natalie King. Natalie is a curator and widely published arts writer with more than two decades experience in international contemporary art. Her unique cultural footprint has seen her develop a depth of expertise and networks across indigenous as well as contemporary arts, realising landmark projects in Australia, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Current roles include Chief Curator of Biennial Lab, City of Melbourne; Senior Research Fellow, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne and Creative Associate of MPavilion. She has curated Tracey’s work into group exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and 13th Dong Gang International Photo Festival, Korea.

Tracey was selected by a five-member panel comprising: Naomi Milgrom AO, Australian Commissioner for the Venice Biennale 2017, Chair of the Selection Advisory Panel; Nicholas Baume, Director and Chief Curator, Public Art Fund, New York; Rebecca Coates, Acting Director, Shepparton Art Museum and independent curator; Lisa Havilah, Director, Carriageworks; and Chris Saines, Director, Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art.

Naomi Milgrom also said that she was delighted to announce the continued support of The Balnaves Foundation as the Major Partner, and The University of Melbourne and White Rabbit Gallery as Supporting Partners.

“The Venice Biennale is Australia’s key private-public arts partnership and through our collaborative efforts we are able to maximise international profile and opportunities for Tracey Moffatt and the broader Australian contemporary visual arts sector. As the new Commissioner for Australia, I’d like to acknowledge and thank our Major and Supporting Partners, and all our individual donors for their continued commitment to this project.”

Artist Biography

Born in Brisbane in 1960, Tracey Moffatt studied visual communications at the Queensland College of Art, from which she graduated in 1982.

Themes such as struggles between individuals, childhood cruelties in suburban life, the toughness of life on the ‘frontier’, the subversion of stereotypes and relations between black and white Australians are apparent in her works. Referencing the artist’s own life and experiences, Moffatt’s work deals with the human condition in all its complexities.

Since her first solo exhibition at the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney in 1989, she has exhibited extensively in museums all over the world. She first gained significant critical acclaim when her short film Night Cries was selected for official competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature film, beDevil, was also selected for Cannes in 1993. In 1997, she was invited to exhibit in the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale. A major exhibition of Moffatt’s work was later held at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York in 1997/98 which consolidated her international reputation.

Comprehensive survey exhibitions of Moffatt’s work have been held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2003-4), the Hasselblad Centre in Goteburg, Sweden (2004) and at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2011). In 2006, she had her first retrospective exhibition Tracey Moffatt: Between Dreams and Reality in Italy, at Spazio Oberdan, Milan. In 2007 a major monograph, The Moving Images of Tracey Moffatt, was published by Charta Publishers, Milan.  A solo survey exhibition featuring all seven video montage works at the Museum of Modern Art, New York opened in May 2012.

Tracey Moffatt was the recipient of the 2007 Infinity Award for art by the International Center of Photography, New York. Infinity Awards are given for outstanding achievements in photography by honouring individuals with distinguished careers in the field and by identifying future luminaries.

Tracey Moffatt is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney and Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York.

Image courtesy of the Artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery