Happiness: the ‘sunny side up’ perspective.
Statistics show that one in six Australians see life sunny side down, suffer from depression (BeyondBlue.org.au).
So how does a country, which ranks tenth on the World Happiness Scale (unsdsn.org), forget to look up?
In their installation, emerging artists Alice Griffiths and Cameron Johns seek to acknowledge the buried struggles that many Australians face within our ‘sunny side up’ culture.
As plain as day, plants follow sunlight. Buds blossom sunny side up.
Referencing this natural occurrence, photos of dahlias tile the floor and face up toward the warmth of the light. For every six images, five present a flower from above, ‘sunny side up’, and one presents a flower from below, ‘sunny side down’. When facing the light, the soft and supple petals show strength and resilience. When facing away from the light, however, these same petals show our true transparency to fear and doubt.
The dahlias represent people, us.
Hanging precariously above each photo with correlating meaning, a sculptured seed withdraws within itself or expands beyond its shell. Each white form carries the petals of dahlias as a proclamation of strength. Yellow cotton metaphorically stems hope from the expanding sculptures and binds fear outside the withdrawn. The white seeds show an examination of birth, shelter and the detrimental elements of detachment. Most significantly however, an exploration in colour has brought us back to the gentle and hopeful nature of the dahlia’s yellow.
The artists encourage visitors to re-consider the wellbeing of those around them and perhaps their own habitual perspective.
Exhibition Dates:
Monday 4 – Saturday 30 May 2015
Official Opening + Artist Talk and Open Discussion:
Saturday 9 May 2015 @ 10:30am
Tea and Coffee provided with an open discussion and beyondblue resources at the door.
Guest speakers include:
beyondblue ambassador Greg Barnes
Mary Pridmore, Artist & Educator
Artist talk: Alice Griffiths & Cameron Johns