• ‘Imagine if they'd cared...’ N.Smith Gallery is delighted to present Joan Ross' second exhibition with the gallery – Imagine if...

    ‘Imagine if they'd cared...’

    N.Smith Gallery is delighted to present Joan Ross' second exhibition with the gallery – Imagine if they'd cared.

    Joan Ross moves between mediums deftly. Whether drawing, print, animation or virtual reality, it is impossible not to recognise her poignant works, not least for the hi-vis yellow which marks them. Imagine if they'd cared is a series of new prints and paintings that asks us to imagine a world where colonial settlers had cared about the environment. 

     

    With equal smatterings of absurdism and melancholy, this body of work is characterised by its handmade aesthetic: collaged images of the past re-contextualised, re-used, and paired with witty references to raise questions about complex contemporary issues.

     

  • Installation view – Joan Ross: Imagine if they'd cared.
  • JOAN ROSS Imagine if they'd cared (Possession), 2023 oil & alkyd paint on stretched PVC with hand-painted digital print backing...
    JOAN ROSS
    Imagine if they'd cared (Possession), 2023
    oil & alkyd paint on stretched PVC with hand-painted digital print backing
    80.5 x 111 cm
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  • JOAN ROSS Let's party like it's 1815 [animation], 2022 High Definition animation with audio Animation and sound: Josh Raymond 8...
    JOAN ROSS
    Let's party like it's 1815 [animation], 2022
    High Definition animation with audio
    Animation and sound: Josh Raymond
    8 m 12 s
    edition of 10 + 2 AP
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    • Joan Ross, Possession, 2022
      Joan Ross, Possession, 2022
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    • Joan Ross, I didn't realise how much I loved you, 2022
      Joan Ross, I didn't realise how much I loved you, 2022
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  • Bio.

    Bio.

    Bold and experimental, Joan Ross' practice investigates the legacy of colonialism in Australia with a  particular focus on reconfiguring the colonial Australian landscape and drawing attention to the complex and ongoing issues surrounding  the effects of globalisation and colonisation.

    Since the late 1980s, Joan has exhibited across a range of mediums, from drawing, painting, photography and sculpture to installation, video, and virtual reality. Her experimental works combine colonial iconography and landscape painting with collaged elements of western commodity culture connected to land tenure and Aboriginal peoples' active presence on the land.

     

    Joan's use of fluorescent yellow and high-visibility clothing symbolises colonisation and fear. The act of depicting people in this bright clothing and placing fluorescent objects in the landscape does more, however, than simply illustrate colonisation; it also highlights and exaggerates the foreign or alien aspects of her work and its association with the landscape and the cultural and spiritual connection to place.

     

    Recent projects include designing the hoarding for The Art Gallery of New South Wales' Sydney Modern expansion, and illuminating the façade of The National Gallery of Australia during the 2021 Enlighten Festival. Joan was awarded the National Art School Fellowship and won the Valerie Taylor Art Prize in 2023.

     

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