BYGONES AND WASTELANDS

24 June – 13 August, 2017

 

‘I’m finding the world to be a weary, ominous place.’   Helen Back

 

The Southland Museum and Art Gallery Niho o te Taniwha is thrilled to present the latest work by Bluff artist Helen Back. BYGONES AND WASTELANDS is a portrayal of Helen’s ability as a mixed media artist, and a glimpse behind the scenes of human experience.

 

Helen Back's one-off sculptures have clay, wire, and the harsh contradictions of life as foundational elements for the work. Combining a range of materials, the sculptures are honed and crafted with care and detail. Textured surfaces bind or wrap each figure’s ‘broken’ elements together, mending by creating a ‘skin or life jacket’ around it, while giving the impression of barely containing its flighty unease.

 

Helen Back is a conjurer of dark playfulness and rare insight. Full of magic and mystery, deeper meaning resides in her reflectively brave and curious works. This exhibition is an interpretation of what is lost and forgotten, the left behind and broken, and of ‘a time when five cents could buy a little magic and joy’.

 

BYGONES AND WASTELANDS will be on display in the Community Access Gallery from Saturday, 24 June until Sunday, 13 August at the Southland Museum & Art Gallery, 108 Gala Street, Invercargill.