Visual Voices: where landscape and memory meet
The stunning exhibition, Visual Voices, by Cabarita based artist Babette Angell has opened at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Ballina.
This body of etched prints on Hahnemuhle rag paper was created after Babette visited Mount Borradaile in the north-west of Arnhem Land, in May 2008 with a group of artists, led by printmaker Basil Hall and painter Mandy Martin.
This area is home to one of the largest rock art galleries in the world with layers of paintings dating back from over 50,000 years, recording ancient and modern stories.
In the silence of the outback, Babette and the other artists traced the traditional owner’s footsteps.
Babette’s art practice is based on landscape and memory and reflects her extensive travels through areas of Australia.
The etchings in the exhibition of natural plant forms are printed in sepia and ochre tones capturing the mutual blending of ancient rock and the simple flora growing on the rock faces.
The high escarpments running through the Mount Borradaile region were the inspiration for a large etching based on the shape of the rock, using lines to represent the paths of communication that linked the various language groups of people who travelled across the area long ago.
This is Babette’s second solo show at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina. Her previous exhibition last year, a short history of the dip tin, was a series of works depicting the rusted tin used in harvesting grapes.
One of the works received the Mayor’s Prize and was acquired by Ballina Shire Council.
