If you're looking to uncover something magic, hidden and off the beaten track this week, look no further.
Directions Back Home is an art exhibition spiced with the unexpected. Kicking off at Redfern’s Curatorial and Co Gallery from March 23 to April 1, this multi-sensory experience is all about transporting you to a small slice of Kamay (also known as Botany Bay) in southwestern Sydney.
The work of young, Aussie-Italian artist William Versace, this exhibition is all about capturing the wild, unspoken beauty of the natural world. You’ll get to wander past gelatinous resin creations, etheral prints of the oldest form of photography in the world, plaster etchings moulded from a 90-year-old shipwreck, and intricate sculptures that have been made hand-in-hand with Mother Earth herself.
Plus, the entire gallery space will be infused with two unique smells that have been handcrafted by Versace in collaboration with cosmetic chemist, Kat Snowden. While walking through the space you’ll be hit first with a bushland smell, made up of eucalypt resin, barks, mushroom, native geranium and lantana. Next, you’ll be immersed in an oceanic scent made from different seaweeds, sea urchins and small bushland scrub that are all native to Kamay.
Cleveland Street, who?
Directions Back Home is Versace’s very first solo show, and is full of otherworldly beauty that manages to make the invisible workings of the world visible. It also is an exhibition underpinned by a painful backstory. Earlier this year, while feverishly preparing for his first show, Versace was hit with tragedy when his entire studio caught fire. In the space of ten minutes, Versace lost ten years of work and thousands of dollars. The fire was totally devastating, but ultimately, he managed to pull through, creating an ethereal show that we think everyone should go and see.
(Also, if you want to help out a young artist who's lost everything in a blazing inferno, you can donate to him here.)
If you want to look at something gorgeous, take home a wildly unique piece of art, and support an up-and-coming Sydney artist, this one is for you.
