Internationally acclaimed Australian artist Mel O’Callaghan is expanding on her continued exploration of the relationship between life and "nonlife" in a new major exhibition at Carriageworks.
The exhibition, which has been curated by Aarna Fitzgerald Hanley, includes an ambitious sculptural installation activated by performances, a new sound work, and a two-channel film capturing the sacred eco-feminist festival Dhalo, shot by the artist on a recent trip to Ambaulim, Goa in India.
All is Life is spread across two spaces in the former railway workshops of Carriageworks. In a large, cavernous room, O’Callaghan presents a new performance installation and sound work, titled ‘First Sound, Last Sound’. The installation features two large-scale fully functioning tuning forks that stand at three metres high and are positioned atop a raised stage. You can see this work activated by live performers every Saturday.
To understand how the inanimate relates to the animate, O’Callaghan traces cultural practices centred around sites on earth that are said to have remained similar to when life first emerged. Looking at the significance of these sites through time, as places to gather and enact ritual, the artist contemplates the generative experience of these practices.
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All is Life is presented free to the public from June 23 to August 21.
