We are happy to announce FAMILY MOUNTAIN, an exhibition by Rob Ball, as a result of his activity during his stay at Studio Kura.
Rob Ball is a Melbourne-based artist and community cultural development producer working in sculpture, socially engaged art practice and creative place-making.
He completed graduate studies in visual arts at the Victorian College of the Arts, and in teaching (art & media) at the University of Melbourne after completing a bachelor of arts (media art) with honours at Deakin University.
The artist has exhibited solo and curated group shows in Melbourne and Tokyo, and his film works have been selected for screenings internationally, in countries such as the Netherlands, USA, Thailand and Japan. As a community cultural development practitioner he has engaged a wide range of communities in Australia, initiating creative projects to generate community animation and renewal.
Here are some words from the artist him.
Once a valuable source of firewood and building materials, today many family mountains are chocked by bamboo that was cultivated after WWII. The graves of ancestors are harder to find, and mountain temples are uninhabited. And yet the lineage of generations seems to linger like a face looking at us.
During my residency, I investigated Japanese funerary objects, sites and customs found within close proximity of Studio Kura. The exhibition brings together a variety of art disciplines, including sculpture, photography and media art. Among the coastal hinterland of Itoshima port lie a series of small mountains that have been cared for by families for generations.
While I often locate my work in the field of socially engaged art practice, it is not purely the realms of human interactions and its social context that interest me; I am also concerned with the social encounter with form and cultural phenomena that is unintelligible.
Rob Ball FAMILY MOUNTAIN
Date: January 16 (Saturday), 17 (Sunday), 11:00 to 19:00, free entrance
* We will hold an opening party on Saturday the 16th, starting at 15:00.