Media Release
An Exhibition by the Library's First Creative Fellows
1 October 2005
'The Library is a site of infinite possibilities. All who journey there find themselves in different lands to their fellow travellers, with different borders, stories, languages and inhabitants.' - Clare Williamson, exhibition curator
Lost & Found – Peter Lyssiotis and John Wolseley: the adventures of two artists in the State Library of Victoria is an exhibition that traces the artistic journeys of two distinguished Australian artists through the collections of the State Library of Victoria.
As recipients of the State Library’s inaugural Creative Fellowships in 2003-04, Peter Lyssiotis and John Wolseley immersed themselves in the Library's collections of rare books, monographs, pictures and maps. Lost & Found is their artistic response to their time at the Library. And while each artist worked independently and produced works that are unique in idea and form, notions of loss and retrieval, travel and time emerged as central themes to both works.
Peter Lyssiotis writes of the Library as ‘feeding his project’ and opening him up to a diverse array of ideas and information. His work brings together word and image in a deluxe limited edition artist’s book entitled A Gardener at Midnight:Travels in the Holy Land.
The book has been produced in response to the war in Iraq and the broader situation in the Middle East. It re-imagines the journey of David Roberts, a 19th-century traveller as described in The Holy Land: Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia (1842-49), as a journey across post-war Iraq. A story unfolds – fact and fiction merge – one version is presented by Peter and the other is ascribed to 'Yabez Al-Kitab'.
A Gardener at Midnight:Travels in the Holy Land reflects Peter's longstanding interest in questions of representation and cross-cultural exchange. His art challenges audiences to question seeming cultural certainties and to see the familiar in a new way. Peter worked with found photographs and created the lyrical images in the book through processes of erasure.
John Wolseley is a painter who works with nature as well as books. His fellowship took him on a number of unexpected but interrelated journeys, as each idea triggered new lines of inquiry. John set out to investigate and reinterpret the representation of Australian land, animals and plant life in books by early European artists such as John Lewin and John White.
His research also led him to seemingly unconnected areas: the history of wire fencing, threatened animals and plants, birdsongs and the poetry of John Shaw Neilson. His regular physical journeys into the natural world – to Victoria's Mallee district – complemented his intellectual journeys in the Library’s archive and brought together many seemingly disparate elements.
Reflecting on his research at the Library, John recalls, 'Sitting in that august silence, I would turn the precious pages with my white-gloved hands, and what at first seemed like dusty stilted paragraphs would start coming to life … and all of a sudden my unformulated research would explode into life'.
The result is a stunning display of exquisite paintings, etchings and drawings.
Both Peter and John's work will be displayed alongside significant works from the Library's Rare Books and Pictures collections that inspired their creation.
Lost & Found also provides a rare opportunity for exhibition visitors to gain an insight into the artistic process through the artists' own notebooks, sketches and photographs. These materials are rarely exhibited and provide an insight into the private thoughts and journeys of each artist.
The State Library Creative Fellowships are offered to writers, artists, musicians and researchers throughout Australia. The Fellowships represent the State Library of Victoria’s commitment to original scholarship, writing and creative endeavour and position the Library as a centre for ideas and public debate.
The State Library Creative Fellowships are now in their third year.
Lost & Found – Peter Lyssiotis and John Wolseley: the adventures of two artists in the State Library of Victoria
Keith Murdoch Gallery, State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne
18 November 2005 until 12 February 2006. Entry: free. Open daily 10am - 5pm.
Closed public holidays. General inquiries: 8664 7000.
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