Page 58 - Tropic Magazine Issue 34

TROPIC • ARTS

Community ties

EXHIBITIONS
Cairns Art Gallery continues to
support local artists with three
new exhibitions and a special
artist fellowship program.

AMANDA EMMETT
NEW WORKS
Upon just a glance of Amanda Emmett’s
work, it’s clear the painter’s eye for detail
rivals that of Mother Nature herself.
Focusing on delicate life forms and some
of the most at-risk species, the Cairns
artist’s latest exhibition, New Works,
encourages the viewer to not only look
beyond, but within. One piece reflects on
the ravenous devouring of Great Barrier
Reef corals by the Crown of Thorns
starfish, while another work, Yearning for 1
Bees, is a commentary on the effects of
pesticides and increasingly compromised encouraged to explore what lies beneath CAIRNS ART SOCIETY
levels of fertility in humans. the surface – to give feeling, form and 74TH ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION
Across the collection, audiences are function to abstract emotions and One of North Queensland’s oldest and
posed to face the fragility of our tropical concepts. She describes this as ‘revealing largest community art organisations,
environment, and ultimately take action what we do not see but know’ and the
towards remedy and renewal. basis of her art practice. the Cairns Art Society was formed
in 1931 to promote an interest in art
“I am mostly inspired by nature, By presenting ‘heavy’ subjects in a
experiences and try to convey how being beautiful medium, the artist hopes and foster local talent. This year,
the group’s competitive annual
in a certain environment makes us feel,” people will respond to New Works – exhibition has attracted hundreds
Amanda said. and the environmental challenges it’s
“The dilemmas, disturbing truths, and imbued with – in an uplifting and of submissions from local artists.
The best of those, as decided by an
repercussions of the choices we make in action-inspiring way.
our social behaviour, what we consume, Amanda Emmett’s New Works is on independent panel of judges,
is showing at Cairns Art Gallery from
and the pollution we create.” display at Cairns Art Gallery until 18 February until 6 March.
Growing up in a family of professional 13 March. The Gallery is free to visit,
artists, at a very young age Amanda was seven days a week.
MORE: cairnsartgallery.com.au

FNQ Contemporaries 2022
The annual FNQ Contemporaries sees creative
practitioners from all art, craft and design disciplines,
at any stage of their career, compete for one of three
Fellowship Awards. The awards, supported by the Cairns
RSL Club, will provide each recipient $7,500 to develop
a new body of work for a solo exhibition at the Gallery.
This year’s collection includes 13 selected artists from
Cardwell in the south, west to Normanton and Mornington
Island and north to the Torres Strait Islands.
FNQ Contemporaries 2022 runs at Cairns Art Gallery
until 6 March. A selection of works are up for sale.

1. Amanda Emmett, IMBALANCE 2021, Courtesy of the artist.
2 2. Naomi Hobson, Where the Rain Fell, 2021, Courtesy of the artist.

58 • Tropic • Issue 34