Visual Art Exhibition Review | Brian
Rope
The Lodge | Amala Groom
Am I In Your Way? | Raquel Ormella
Canberra Contemporary | 3 May – 12
July 2025
who are not familiar with Australia’s national capital city and, in particular,
the design and purpose of its central area might like to look at TheWalter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin Design Drawings of the City of Canberra
and/or read material about the design, such as thisWikipedia article.
I in your way?
extends Raquel Ormella’s career-long focus on the visual cultures of protest
and resistance. This exhibition takes as its starting point the location of the
Canberra Contemporary gallery in which it is on display – at the centre of the
Parliamentary Triangle looking out onto Lake Burley Griffin and across it towards
and beyond the base of that triangle – as a site to consider past and present
formations of national identities.
The
work activates the view down Walter Burley Griffin’s designed sightline between
Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial, passing through the centre of
the International Flag Display on Commonwealth Place. Drawings, flags and
performance works in the exhibition look at how political protestors have used
their bodies as direct forms of passive disruption.
Inked
messages on the front or reverse of, or alongside, found vintage Canberra
postcards are both entertaining and significant. Likewise, messages on created banners
both challenge and amuse us.
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| Raquel Ormella, ‘One bomb vs many’ 2025, installation view, ‘Am I in your way_’, Canberra Contemporary, 2025, ink on found vintage Canberra postcards, dimensions variable. Photo by Brenton McGeachie |
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| Raquel Ormella, ‘Am I in your way_’, 2025, installation view, Canberra Contemporary, 2025. Photo by Brian Rope |
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| Raquel Ormella, ‘Am I in your way_’, 2025, installation view, Canberra Contemporary, 2025. Photo by Brenton McGeachie_2 |
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| Raquel Ormella, ‘future history #1’, 2025, installation view, ‘Am I in your way_’, Canberra Contemporary, 2025, nylon, 90 x 170cm. Photo by Brenton McGeachie |
In
an environment where attitudes towards legitimate disruption and protest are
changing, this exhibition is a timely exploration of an emerging
criminalisation of what might simply be no more than an inconvenience for passers-by
or bystanders.
The second
exhibition being shown in the adjacent gallery space is The Lodge,
named after the Prime Minister’s residence. It is the third moving image work
in Amala Groom’s Raised by Wolves series exploring the
relationship between alchemy (spirit) and science (matter), following the
belief that life is a marriage of these forces, with the human being as the
ultimate construct between them.
This excellent 11:11 minutes single-channel video work connects strongly with Groom’s personal history of direct action at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy located within the Parliamentary Triangle, and her many years of political engagement both inside and outside the walls of Parliament House. Her returning to Ngunnawal country to film this artwork is important; it is both ceremonial and cyclical. In doing so, she has reactivated her ancestral songlines (the Aboriginal walking routes that crossed the country, linking important sites and locations), and this resultant autobiographical (in nature) work is a reweaving of both history and the future.
Wearing a typically long and white wedding dress, Groom herself symbolically weaves and unravels a red rope (commonly used as a symbol of protection, unity, and unbreakable bonds) along Anzac Parade, embodying both the colonial structural constraints Indigenous people faced (and still do) and the profound role ancestors play in spirituality, offering guidance and a sense of belonging. The work culminates in her transformation; empowered by the campfire that burns constantly at the Tent Embassy, she is seen running through Parliament House then ultimately vanishing into the bush as a sovereign Wiradyuri woman.
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| Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_10 |
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| Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_2 |
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| Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_4 |
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| Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_7 |
In this work, Groom has reclaimed what we might think of as “the heart of the Australian state” created by all who came after those we now refer to as our First Peoples. For many, many years previously the area of country now within the Parliamentary Triangle was a sacred place used by those First Peoples for corroborees and tribal indigenous gatherings. Visitors to the exhibition should view the entire video, waiting as necessary to watch it from the start, taking in its significant messages, thinking about the significance of various shapes they see, and admiring the very professional performance and film quality. Then read the artist statement and the exhibition essay to understand more fully what they have viewed.
These two exhibitions both present profound and important messages. Together the messages are enhanced and strengthened.
This review is also available on the author’s blog here.
