During the ARCA performance, Chloé barks like a dog. Her hands on the balustrade, front row of the Circle, in the Concert Hall of Sydney Opera House. Spittle landing on the lighting desk below. A truly inspired moment that once again reminds me why she is my original muse. Differing to my usual line of enquiry, Desire, this exhibition is inspired by Muses.
MUSE
Curated By
Athena Thebus
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Featuring
Alix Higgins
Chloé Corkran
Claudia Nicholson
Nathan Aquilina
Desire’s power is leveraged on distance. Fantasies provide the coordinates for Desires, and relies on the imagined potential of future possibilities. If you act upon the desires, fulfill the fantasy, it loses nearly all potency. Can you want something you already have?
A muse operates in the present, their influence magnifies with closeness. To be enraptured by a muse is to witness another in the moment, acutely alive in the present. An effervescent spirit runs through this exhibition, and in that of the four muses included here. There is levity in the materials, treatment, and content of the works.
Nathan Aquilina montages his behind the scenes video footage of Australian Fashion Week Resort 2025 in our Streetspace Window, capturing the energy of an industry that runs on inspiration.
On Taxidermy TV, Claudia Nicholson’s single channel video ‘An old spelling of my name’, is influenced by Audre Lorde’s text Zami: A new spelling of my name. Just as Lorde interweaves truth and fiction in the recounting of her youth, Claudia draws this political and performative writing process into a visual form through assemblage and editing.
Chloé Corkran's work in the Laneway is dedicated to the icon, Nicole Kidman. These large scale paste ups are scans of receipt paper prints she quickly produces at her day job.
Alix Higgins’ embroidered textile work in the Salon is of worn garments is conjured from a myriad of the artists' own poetic references.
