70 metre wall drawing commission for Southern Western exhibition at Mildura Arts Centre, 2022

Curated by Gareth Hart and Jane Polkinghorne

Southern Western emerged from the coming together of two curators, in one place.

Jane Polkinghorne and Gareth Hart found themselves living in the Mallee across 2019-20, although drawn here from different places, and for different reasons. Through this, they both became intrigued by this fascinating region: its colonial history, the lifeblood of two river systems converging, its distal relationship to a Metropolitan city, the incredible First Nations artists that reside here, and the context of this place in relation to a sense of local, regional, national identity. Through this interest, Southern Western was born. The project brought together many significant artists from the region and afar, through a major new exhibition commissioned by Mildura Arts Centre.

The 70 metre wall drawing was created as a representation of the Murray River, in it's entire shape from the source to the estuary along the gallery walls of MAC. Weaving between, behind and through each artwork in the exhibition, it speaks to the essence of the flow and shape that the mighty Murray takes on it's journey. The intersecting layers of four lines hints at the shape of the Murray, whilst also capturing a sense of ‘flow’ in the line work.