Author: Ashleigh Fielding

MUSEUM visitors have the chance to learn more about what happens behind and in front of the masks of Torres Strait culture at a new exhibition at the Museum of the Great Southern.

Evolution: Torres Strait Masks opened last weekend and will remain in Albany until May 3.

The Weekender caught up with artists Milton Savage and Kapua Gutchen Snr while they were in town for the grand opening to learn more about the significance of the masks and mask making within the Zenadh Kes Torres Strait culture.

“This is a replica of an ancestral mask that would have been worn for a seasonal performance,” Savage explained.

“They would dance over four days with the westerly wind … about survival and understanding the natural world.

“It’s quite a heartfelt thing; I wish my grandfather could have taught it to me.”

Savage said these types of rituals have almost been completely lost within his community, as European colonisers forbade they be performed after British administrative control began in the Torres Strait in the mid 1800s.

He said making these masks gave him the opportunity to connect with his ancestors and gave him their strength and knowledge.

At first, Savage felt confusion regarding how to craft the masks and when to make them – he was trying to make them during the day.

After connecting with his ancestors, he learned that 3am was the best time to make them and from there, everything “fell together”.

“To embrace culture is a gift,” Savage added.

Cygnet Repu from the Torres Strait Regional Authority said Evolution: Torres Strait Masks was important in closing the gap between different people and cultures, where language could not.

“It links outsiders to insiders,” he said.

“For so long, people have thought these masks were worn in only times of war, but they are also worn for love – there’s a lot more explanation with this exhibition.

“It lets us tell two stories – from behind the mask, and from the outside, looking at the mask.”

The exhibition is free to enter.

ALBANY is the fourth stop on The Moscow Ballet’s Australian tour of fairytale classic Sleeping Beauty.

The internationally acclaimed company will first stop in Perth, Bunbury and Geraldton before heading to the Albany Entertainment Centre on March 13.

Moscow Ballet Choreographer and former Principal Dancer Andrey Lyapin told the Weekender that Sleeping Beauty was not an easy ballet to prepare, but when it was done well, it was very successful.

“It’s one of the best stories for kids and one of the best options for classical ballet,” he said.

“It is a light story, will make you laugh, and the music is very beautiful.

“It’s very beautiful too with many decorations and costumes.”

Lyapin joined the Moscow Ballet after graduating the Uzbek Ballet School in 1996.

He performed as a leading soloist in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppelia and Romeo and Juliet.

Tickets to the Albany performance of The Moscow Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty are on sale now and can be purchased online at albanyentertainment.com. au or at the AEC’s box office on Toll Place.

A NEW gallery space designed for abstract artists and performers to showcase their skills and work in is now open in Mount Barker.

Resident artists and coordinators of the venue Barry Mackie, Joanne Francis and Melaine McQuillan opened the doors to 26/2 a couple of weeks ago.

The aim of 26/2 is to provide artists who do not practise traditional art forms the opportunity to exhibit their creations with other likeminded artists.

Mackie said as long as the artist’s work fit the contemporary art bill, it was welcome at 26/2.

“There are lots of galleries for more traditional art, and we don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but we just think there is ample room for something different,” he said.

“We want to encourage the conversation that it doesn’t have to be traditional, real life or representational art.”

A group of Perth artists has already secured the venue – which is divided into three galleries – to exhibit at Easter.

Mackie and McQuillan are eager for more artists to approach them about hiring the venue.

“We are particularly interested in art that tells a narrative,” McQuillan added.

“And we are very keen for installation art, musicians, performing arts, workshops and art talks.”

The works of Duncan Moon, Mackie, Judith Clarke, Trevor Woodward, Christine Baker, Michelle Stanley, McQuillan, Wayne Coleman, Francis and Linda Morrison are currently on show at 26/2 until the end of the month.

If you are interested in exhibiting at the new venue on Langton Road, you can reach the coordinators through the Facebook page – 26/2 Contemporary Exhibition Venue – or by emailing [email protected]

AN EXHIBITION reflecting the very venue it has been installed in is now open to the public.

Navigate by Albany art group MIX is now on within the foyer of the Albany Entertainment Centre.

It is part of the centre’s Ten in Ten program, a concept that will see 10 visual art exhibitions exhibit within the AEC environment over 10 months to help celebrate its 10th birthday.

Navigate is a progressive exhibition and will see more pieces added to it over the next couple of months.

Lizzie Riley and Barbara Madden are some of the first artists to exhibit in the space with their photography and installation art.

Madden is displaying her photos of the entertainment centre blended with images of granite on backlit transparency film and lightboxes.

“The AEC is strongly embedded in Albany’s granite landscape,” she said.

“My work draws attention to the building’s crystal-like structure and its granite environment … using images with strong reflections is a reference to twinned feldspar crystals, a component of local granite.”

Riley’s installation is a series of delicately interwoven twigs and the ends of peppermint trees.

It hangs from the interior balcony, above the main foyer.

“It looks at what was here before the AEC,” she said.

“This area would have been covered in peppermint trees.

“I was looking at the connections between the natural world and construction, and the complexity of breaking the natural system … the piece is very fragile and full of holes, to show that once you start to pull apart the environment, you can’t put it back together again.”

MUMS are the centrepiece of a new performance work currently based at Vancouver Arts Centre.

Perth-based company Whiskey & Boots created Mama Stitch two years ago as a way for people to talk about their mothers.

Performer Georgia King said people often had

complicated relationships with their mothers, so she thought it was a good place to “mine” for a performance idea.

Mama Stitch utilises storytelling, verbatim performance and music to re-tell tales about mums the company has collected from various people in the Albany community.

“Mums are often the unsung heroes of regional communities,” King said.

“They influence you in all kinds of ways.

“They [stories] are so amazingly emotional, and we want to set them free.”

in Albany was that stories were often about resilience.

To remain authentic to those stories, she and the other three performers “get out of the way” to present each tale.

Original music accompanies the telling of each individual story.

“It’s a powerful thing, seeing and listening to a story being reflected back,” King said.

“It’s like a window into that person.

“It’s palpable, the emotions felt during the performance.”

Mama Stitch will play at Vancouver Arts Centre tonight, tomorrow and Saturday, and March 5, 6 and 7.

Doors open at 6pm for a 6.30pm start.

Tickets can be purchased at trybooking.com