Images (L-R): Bin Bai, image courtesy the artist; Stephanie Doddridge, photograph Darren Clements Photography; Sue Kneebone, photograph Rosina Possingham; Olga Sankey, image courtesy the artist; Truc Truong, photograph Andre Castellucci.
Announcing the recipients of The Guildhouse Collections Project with Flinders University Museum of Art.
Five South Australian artists have been selected to undertake The Guildhouse Collections Project with Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) in 2024.
We congratulate Bin Bai, Stephanie Doddridge, Sue Kneebone, Olga Sankey and Truc Truong who will take up the opportunity to research and develop new work in response to FUMA’s Australian Political Poster and Print collection early in the new year.
Initially conceived for two artists or artist teams, such was the response to the call-out and calibre of the applicants, The Project has expanded – for the first time – to include five artists, each of whom stood out for their vision and ambition.
From early career to established practitioners, the selected artists represent a diverse range of creative practices including sculpture, installation, ceramic, printmaking, performance, and assemblage.
Guildhouse Chief Executive Officer Sarah Feijen says – “The Collections Project provides an important opportunity for South Australian artists to engage with the rich content of our state’s public collections. In an exciting evolution of the Partnership with FUMA, this year we are delighted that a cohort of five stellar artists will have the opportunity to participate in The Project with exclusive access to key works in the Flinders’ collection as well as guidance from curatorial experts, and peer reflection, to support the development of new works for exhibition within the esteemed FUMA Gallery.
The breadth and quality of applications for this Collections Project opportunity this year demonstrates just how valuable this platform is for the professional development of the artist’s involved. The overwhelming feedback that we receive is that the extended period of engagement with South Australian collections allows artists to broaden their scope and scale of their practice, while building connections, profile and confidence that will continue to propel them forward into the future.”
The Collections Project is a partnership between Guildhouse and FUMA, supported by Arts South Australia. This partnership provides participating artists with rare research and development opportunities through structured engagements with the FUMA collections and university’s museum staff. Artist’s benefit from the study of art, creative and scholarly exchange, and the invitation to produce and present new work.
The successful artists in this iteration will research and develop major new work in parallel, not necessarily in collaboration, allowing an in-depth and broad response to the collection and curatorial theme of ‘The Disquiet’ led by FUMA Collections Curator Nic Brown. In this process artists will reflect on the alternative cultural movements and political activism of the 1970s documented in FUMA’s Australian Political Poster & Print Collection.
Nic Brown says – “We’re thrilled to invite five South Australian artists to research FUMA’s collection of Australian Political Prints and Posters and develop new ambitious work. I look forward to working closely with these exceptional artists to support them to bring their conceptually driven new work to fruition for FUMA’s 2024 program.”
About the artists:
Image: Bin Bai, Yak and Dragon, Digital prints, 66x51cm, 2018, image courtesy the artist.
Bin Bai
Bin Bai, aka Gentsu Gyatso, an Adelaide-based artist, holds master’s degrees from the Sichuan Fine Art Institute and the University of South Australia. Notable for his diverse artistic ventures, Bin founded the Sayigemo Studio in China, creating the acclaimed animated film “The Hunter and the Skeleton.” His work, spanning traditional and contemporary mediums, reflects themes of First Nations recognition and post-neoliberalism. In 2020, Bin earned the UniSA Graduate Exhibition Acquisition Prize for “Hi-vis Land.” Shortlisted for the 2022 Floating Art Project, Ramsay Foundation, he continued to captivate with the Space Horse project, delving into art’s role in archaic belief amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Bin presented groundbreaking research on the contemporary transformation of Tibetan art at the 7th International Seminar on Tibetan Studies in Beijing, further solidifying his impact.
Image: Stephanie Doddridge, In the garden I recollect 4, 2023 Unique state vegetal print on rag paper 68 x 89 cm (framed), image courtesy the artist.
Stephanie Doddridge
Stephanie Doddridge is an emerging contemporary artist working on Kaurna Country, South Australia. She takes an autobiographical approach to art making, reflecting on personal experiences and emotions and representing them through multidisciplinary practice. She is drawn to gardens and their produce, which have the potential to hold memories and a sense of nostalgia, using garden produce as materials to investigate symbiotic human – nature relationships. Stephanie engages with notions of reciprocal care, through printmaking, ceramic, textile and sculptural production methods.
In 2021, Stephanie was selected to exhibit in Hatched: National Graduate Exhibition, at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. She has gained multiple awards from the University of South Australia and the Helpmann Academy, including the Hill Smith Art Advisory Award and the H.P.Gill Memorial Award for work in ceramics. Stephanie presented her solo exhibition in 2023, On Harvesting Dandelions, featuring the installation, A Gardened Mind, for which she won the 2023 City Rural Emerging Artist Award for SALA Festival.
Stephanie has recently completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts (First Class Honours) at the South Australian School of Art at the University of South Australia through which she received an Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Image: Sue Kneebone, Way too tough, 2018, Photomontage, giclee print, 100cmx65cm, image courtesy the artist.
Sue Kneebone
Sue Kneebone is an interdisciplinary visual artist with an exhibition practice spanning more than twenty years. Sue’s postgraduate qualifications include a PhD in visual arts from the University of South Australia, and a Masters in Fine Art from the Victorian College of the Arts. Sue has taught across several tertiary institutions including the University of South Australia and Adelaide Central School of Art. She has been a recent recipient of an Arts SA Fellowship and her work is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide City Council and private collections. Recent highlights include exhibiting in TWIST at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, international residencies and cultural exchanges in Mauritius and India, and work in the 2022 Seychelles Biennale.
Image: Olga Sankey, False Reading #2, 2021 Digital print, 54 x 80cm, image courtesy the artist.
Olga Sankey
Adelaide artist Olga Sankey has been making and exhibiting print-based works for more than 30 years. Her work is held in major public collections in Australia including the Australian National Gallery, NGV, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Artbank and Australian Parliament House, and overseas including the National Museum of Modern Art – Seoul/Korea and the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions, Lodz, Poland. She has produced etchings, photopolymer prints, lithographs and folios, and since the early 2000s has embraced digital technology. This has enabled printing onto surfaces other than paper and the creation of large format works and composite images that incorporate both original and appropriated imagery. She is interested in the relationship of image and text, and uses layering to question the stability and veracity of printed information.
Image: Truc Truong, I Pray You Eat Cake, 2023, photograph Zan Wimberly.
Truc Truong
Truc Truong explores portraiture, assemblage and installation to express her ongoing exploration of social constructs and the nuances of everyday life. Her creative process is rooted in play and animism, often manipulating objects into imagined installations. Drawing inspiration from post-colonialism, her Vietnamese heritage, and a commitment to celebrating joy amid adversity, her work offers a distinctive perspective on these themes. Truong graduated from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Art and Design (Honours) in 2022. She has exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2023; Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, 2023; Post Office Projects, Adelaide, 2023; 4A Centre for Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2021; Nexus Arts, Adelaide, 2021; Perth Institute Contemporary Arts, 2020; and The Substation, Melbourne, 2019.
