Project Description
Cinemania at Campbelltown Arts Centre was Lisa Reihana’s first Australian survey exhibition, showcasing three decades of her video and photographic works and underscoring her international status as a pioneer of experimental video art and multimedia installations. The exhibition revealed the spectrum of Reihana’s practice – from early experimental works in digital video such as Wog Features, 1988-90 and Native Portraits n.19897, 1998, to futuristic films, dystopian photography and immersive environments such as Fantastic Egg, 2002, PELT, 2009, Tai Whetuki – House of Death Redux, 2015-16, and Reihana’s most recent and ambitious work to date, in Pursuit of Venus [infected], 2015-17. Reihana’s works unpack complex ideas around Māori and transpacific identity through mythology and interrogate the colonial gaze, the fabrication of history and the representation of First Nations peoples. Cinemania traced Reihana’s ongoing preoccupation with identity, life and death, conflation of time, interest in fictional and non-fictional characters and the creation of compelling ‘otherworlds’.
The centrepiece of Cinemania was Reihana’s monumental work in Pursuit of Venus [infected], 2015-17. C-A-C assisted Reihana in the development of this work by facilitating partnerships with a range of Campbelltown community members, including the Dharawal women weavers and the Koomurri Performance Troupe. This work, featuring Dharawal weavers and dancers, premiered at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, placing Aboriginal culture alongside other First Nation cultures on an international stage. The work made its worldwide premier outside the Venice Biennale in Cinemania.
Education/Community Engagement
2016: Involvement of local Elder Aunty Glenda Chalker, Dharawal women weavers and Koomurri Performance Troupe in creation of new scenes for Lisa Reihana’s artwork in Pursuit of Venus [infected], 2015-17
11 January 2018 (opening event): The Nga Puawai O Te Ariki Maori dance group performed at the opening event, welcoming Reihana to Campbelltown
13 January 2018: artist talk with Lisa Reihana and Maud Page, Deputy Director, Art Gallery NSW
3 March 2018: RECLAIM – street art workshop for youth which explored the reclamation of personal and public space, engagement with Pacific Islander youth and Kaumatua Elders from Youth off the Streets
17 March 2018: UNRAVEL – workshop for all ages which explored traditional and contemporary approaches towards individual and cultural representation through costume and character
24 March 2018: artist talk with Lisa Reihana and Mami Kataoka, Artistic Director, 21st Biennale of Sydney
24 March 2018: Matavai Pacific Cultural Arts created and performed a new dance piece, commissioned by C-A-C, thanking Reihana on behalf of the community
25 March 2018: artist talk with Lisa Reihana and Michael Dagostino, Director, C-A-C
