Nonsensual
Featuring three artists (Fat Dog, Spirit You, and Jordyn Burnett) Nonsensual was shown at The Old Ambulance Station, as part of Horizon Festival from 26th Aug – 3rd Sept.
This journal entry covers the install, the exhibition, and the two other events that occurred in conjunction with Nonsensual.
Conversations and planning around the exhibition began in Feb 2023, which gave six months to narrow down the curatorial theme (thanks to Fatdog!) and to develop new work. It was a privilege to work with the other artists and to be involved in Horizon Festival – Sunshine Coast’s leading multi-arts festival.
The week before installation I had a week-long headache. A lot of prep went into this exhibition and despite starting months in advance, art was being made right until the opening. We had five days to install and overall the installation process went smoothly. Shout out to my partner Ben for transporting the 100+ kilo Nature Shelter artwork and assisting in its install. Many thanks to Travis and Charlie for exceptional lighting!
Exhibition
Nonsensual ran from Sat 26 Aug – Sun 3 Sep as part of Horizon Festival 2023 at The Old Ambulance Station Gallery. I gallery sat every day (minus a couple of mornings) and I appreciated how long people spent with the artworks and their generous and thoughtful feedback. Feedback snippets can be found at the bottom of this entry.
Nonsensual Exhibition
Jordyn Burnett Crying Man series
Fiona Harding (Spirit You) Artworks
Skateboards by Fat Dog
Fiona Harding (Spirit You) Artworks
Skateboards by Fat Dog
Golden Teacher by Fiona Harding (Spirit You)
Distracted by Fat Dog
Fiona Harding (Spirit You) Artworks
Nature Shelter Guidelines by Fiona Harding (Spirit You)
Artworks by Fat Dog
Nonsensual Exhibition
Close up of Golden Teacher by Fiona Harding (Spirit You)
Nonsensual Exhibition
Golden Teacher by Fiona Harding (Spirit You)
Artworks by Fat Dog
Golden Teacher by Fiona Harding (Spirit You)
Rotoscope Schmotoscope by Jordyn Burnett
Artworks by Fat Dog
Artworks by Jordyn Burnett
Night Body by Fiona Harding
Nonsensual Exhibition
Skateboards by Fat Dog
Nonsensual Exhibition
Jordyn Burnett Crying Man series
Unapologetically Dressed
The other exhibition on at The Old Ambo during Horizon Festival was Unapologetically Dressed by my good friends Shaye Hardisty and Ketakii Jewson-Brown. Their work appeared within the ramp space and centered around Nambour fashions and dressing unapologetically. The video work for the exhibition can be viewed HERE.
Unapologetically Dressed
Unapologetically Dressed
Unapologetically Dressed Zines
Unapologetically Dressed – Ardleigh
Glambour
The opening night coincided with Glambour (glamour, drag, music, costumes, and a lip sync battle ) curated by musician Andrew Kirwin. The event was ridiculously fun, with Jayden taking out the top prize with his amazing lip-synced rendition of Britney Spears’s, Baby One More Time.
Jayden performing Britney Spears ‘Baby One More Time’
Tim Hall aka The Dutchess Missy Fitz-Well-Parker-Balls and Andrea Kirwin as George Michael
Fat Dog lip-syncing to David Bowie
Jayden performing Britney Spears ‘Baby One More Time’
Andrea Kirwin as George Michael
Jayden performing Britney Spears ‘Baby One More Time’
Andrea Kirwin lip-syncing to George Michael
FEEDBACK
From Old Ambulance Guest Book
/great exhibition
/great range of exhibit
/so fuckin happy to see this art thriving here! “its a fucked up town but there are beautiful things here” (trashboy quote from unapologetically dressed)
/a gorgeous exhibition, rich and personal. Nambour has a special place in my heart
/Great stuff. Love the energy in Fat Dog’s art.
/Amazing work, deeply personal but incredibly fun and relatable 🙂
/amazing exhibition, very meaningful + also great fun, fantastic work
/Fab work everyone, ideas, feelings, experiences – taking us to different worlds
/fantastic art, great to see new styles and subject material
/Absolutely amazing I loved the nature shelter and felt so calm and relaxed after sitting in it. I also loved the pink leather jacket very punk barbie 2023
/I love it becus it is very creativ and very funky !
Specific Feedback For Nature Shelter (more info about the artwork HERE)
/peaceful experience, serenity, nature, calm, quiet, relaxed, centred, humbled, trippy, open, serene, sensory heaven, zen, intrigued, unsure, unusual, connection to nature, beautiful, floating happy, divine emotions, pausing, at peace, feeling safe, comfort
/I felt like a child curled up hiding in a hollowed out tree again 🙂
/Beautiful delicate relaxing charming calming intimate homely earthy wonderful
/I did not expect the intensely moving and transformative experience that completely immersed every fibre of my being…and for what seemed like an eternity. 3 minutes had an impact I will feel forever
/Beautiful moment of mindfulness
/A fine reflective experience
/At peace, a beautiful voice and music and poetic words for an otherwise cold space outside the art piece.
/New perspective on life & Australia
/Meditative as though I been in the forest
/Amazing space to drop into heart n soul
/Wanting to stay – reminder of our golden orb
/It reminded me that everything we would ever need, is within and around us. We are nature and nature is us. It made me feel reconnected.
/Its grounding to realise that us and the earth are the same. To feel connected.
/Gentle union glowing sparkle greens, golds, and some blue sprinkle my soul seated upon mossy space feeling perfection, after all
/Touched, teary and transported
/Relaxed + ready for nap
/Beautiful space, love the light inside, perfect escape
/Feeling engulfed by nature
/Being immersed in nature an awareness & grateful
/Relief and an odd sense of contentment, awkwardly peaceful
/Calming, tight but not claustrophobic
/I felt like I was in a beautiful mediation
/The feeling of being in a cave on top of a mountain
/Surprise door…like a secret cubby, inside feels and sounds like where id like to live
Acknowledgements
Nonsensual was made possible through support from Horizon Festival, with special mention to Aimee Gray & Hannah Clissold for all their lovely guidance and support! Big thanks to the other artists involved, Fatdog, Jordyn Burnett, Shaye Hardisty, Ketakii Jewson-Brown, Andrea Kirwin (and all the fabulous acts involved with Glambour).
Night Body was supported by The Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) which is a partnership between the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and Sunshine Coast Council through ArtsCoast to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland. Special thanks to Megan Williams, who through RADF, was able to provide mentoring for the project. (more info about the artwork HERE).
Nature Shelter was developed during a Project 24 residency. Project 24 is an initiative of ArtsCoast: Spaces for Creatives and funded by Sunshine Coast Council’s Arts & Heritage Levy. (more info about the artwork HERE)
