Summer Exhibitions

Published on 30 January 2020

Internationally recognized Tasmanian artist Raymond Arnold will be the guest speaker at the opening of Forest Obscura, an exhibition about the Tarkine or takayna on Friday, 31 January 2020 at 6 pm.

The exhibition, Forest Obscura, brings together four multidisciplinary artists, Yvonne Rees-Pagh, Jennifer Marshall, Leigh Hobbba and Milan Milojevic, who were all inspired by the theme of nature-human relationship. Their artistic responses to the theme offers a wide range of interpretations, visions, styles and disciplines –from traditional and digital printmaking, to drawing, and sound scape, the exhibition will enrich and challenge our perceptions of our relationship with nature. The Tarkine is recognised as being a living remnant of prehistoric forest. It is this amazing forest that has inspired the artists in the creation of their art for this exhibition.

Mayor Steve Kons said “Tasmania has many forests and wilderness areas but the one that stands out as the most mysterious and inaccessible is the Tarkine, situated here in the North West of the state. This rain forest is unique in that many of the flora and fauna species are ancient and simply don’t exist in other places in the world.”

Also opening on the same evening is Fernando Do Campo: Yet to live in a place without house sparrows. Fernando Do Campo’s research is developed around text-based painting that is a way of engaging with birds. His paintings document uncanny moments, glimpses, and tentative encounters with birds in Launceston, the Sunshine Coast and New York and after the realisation that many birds, such as the spotted turtle dove or kookaburra that are often associated with native wildlife in Northern Tasmania, were introduced species.

All five artists wish to raise awareness about the precarious situation facing not only the Tarkine wilderness but all forests worldwide as they continue to disappear or change due to human intervention.

Admission is free but please RSVP by contacting the gallery on 6430 5875 or [email protected].

The Burnie Regional Art Gallery is open free to the public from 10 am to 4.30 pm weekdays and from 1.30 to 4 pm weekends and public holidays.

Stay up to date with events and public programs that support exhibitions on the Gallery’s social media pages.

The Burnie Regional Art Gallery a Burnie City Council initiative and is assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for the Arts.

For further information and images please contact:

Regional Art Gallery Director               

P 03 6430 5874 |[email protected]