Ikon presents exhibitions of new work by Australian Aboriginal artists Judy Watson (b. 1959) and Yhonnie Scarce (b. 1973), as part of an international tour developed in partnership with TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Australia.
Hetti Perkins, curatorial advisor on this occasion, explains that the artists are concerned essentially with “Australia’s ‘secret war’ – a battle fought on many fronts from colonial massacres to Stolen Generations to the Maralinga bomb tests.
The seductive beauty of Watson’s and Scarce’s works belies their powerful message about the sustained campaign of the destruction of country, culture and community in Aboriginal Australia – their work is a kind of ‘tender trap’”. With the devastating evidence of climate change in Australia, manifest in apocalyptic wildfires and storms, these timely exhibitions deliver an urgent message.
Judy Watson: 4 March – 31 May 2020
Yhonnie Scarce: 9 April – 31 May 2020
Ikon Gallery
1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace
Birmingham, B1 2HS
Open Tuesday – Sunday, 11am-5pm, free entry
0121 248 0708 / www.ikon-gallery.org