ART X 3

31July 2026

It’s been a week of art exhibition openings. Rather unusual because I’m not well trained when it comes to the visual arts. I’m a “like what I like” person without much in the way of analytical skills. I was exposed to contemporary art as a teenager but clearly didn’t “get it” in the same way I did theatre. Betty and Alan used to regularly to go to openings at the Old Fire Station Gallery in Leederville which operated from 1968 to 1976. Somehow or other I was always inveigled into taking drinks around to the guests. Perhaps I was too busy trying not to spill glasses of wine to look at the art on the walls? 

Susan and I had connections to all three exhibitions this week. The first was at Early Works in South Fremantle, a series of paintings of women by Tania Ferrier. She’s well known for her Angry Underwear series (of which I own a Treasure Chest) but this was her first solo exhibition for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever been to an exhibition where there were only women to gaze at on the walls – and women created by another woman.

The second exhibition was in fact three at the Lawrence Wilson Gallery at the University of Western Australia. The first, called Held: on care and collections included work from the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art. There were painted pieces and pieces crafted out of wood shavings and rope. It was a collection that our friend Pam Kleemann’s hair pieces would have have sat well within: https://kleemann.id.au/mo-hair-suit/  

Next was a group of work called Strange Sensations which, in the words of the curator, “explores the fragile threshold between reality and uncertainty”. The works were “uncanny”, where the ordinary, such as a face, suddenly become strange. To the degree that I couldn’t bear to look at most of the pieces and left the room quickly, the curator had done an effective job! I’ve never been one for horror or uncanniness.

However, the final room was a triumph. Deanna Hitti is a Lebanese-Australia artist, specialising in printmaking. The walls were covered with cyanotypes of  19^th century Orientalist paintings which were interesting enough but what was breathtaking was tables full of glassware – plates and platters, wine glasses and water glasses, bowls and cups, decorated with royal icing flowers in red and green. The exhibition is called Mezze and that may have been part of the appeal. Whether it’s Middle Eastern mezze or Spanish tapas, I love those cuisines that give you a chance to taste a variety of flavours and Hitti’s room provided a similar range of experiences.

The final gallery visit for the week was a retrospective of the photography of local artist, Tony Harrison. I first met Tony through the University Dramatic Society at UWA in the 1970s. We performed together in a range of plays including a production of The Merchant of Venice where he played Gratiano and I played Nerissa. I lost contact with him when he headed to London where he started his photographic career but Perth being the small town that it is means that I know people who continued to have a connection with him. It was generous of these friends to craft this exhibition in his honour.