A major mid-career survey exhibition of work by Fiona Hall, one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, opens at the Queensland Art Gallery on 19 March 2005.
 
‘The Art of Fiona Hall’ features photographs from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, recent installations of delicately painted botanical illustrations on bank notes, and vibrant, hand-beaded objects. The survey will also include works from the ‘Paradisus terrestris’ series, in which botanical specimens and human body parts are intricately sculpted from sardine tins. Two major new works, Understorey 1999–2004 and Tender 2003–05, will be exhibited for the first time.
 
Fiona Hall’s complex and beautiful works convey her diverse interests in language, systems of knowledge, and the history and classification of plants. Her work also comments on current issues such as globalisation, colonisation, environmental pollution and consumerism.
 
‘The Art of Fiona Hall’ continues until 5 June, and will then tour to the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, from 8 July – 11 September 2005. Admission is free.
 
A new book on the artist, written by exhibition curator Julie Ewington, Head of Australian Art, QAG, and published by Piper Press, accompanies the exhibition and is available from the Gallery Store.
 
 

Artist talk
10.30am Wednesday 6 April

Fiona Hall will speak about her work and annual residencies in Sri Lanka since 1999. No bookings necessary, however, seating is limited. Lecture Theatre

Exhibition floortalk
10.30am Wednesday 13 April

Presented by Holly Arden, Curatorial Assistant, Contemporary Australian Art, QAG. Gallery 4

Lecture
10.30am Wednesday 4 May

Exhibition lecture presented by Julie Ewington, Head of Australian Art, QAG, and curator of ‘The Art of Fiona Hall’. No bookings necessary, however, seating is limited. Lecture Theatre

Material Worlds: A Forum on
Object-making in Contemporary Art
12 noon – 5.00pm Saturday 9 April

The prevalence of object-making in contemporary art will be discussed by national and local speakers, including artist Fiona Hall and Kevin Murray, Director, Craft Victoria. Chaired by Julie Ewington, Head of Australian Art, QAG, the forum is a QAG New Wave event. Lecture Theatre
 
Tickets: $10 / $5 concessions, including lunch. Bookings essential by 4 April. Telephone (07) 3840 7255 during office hours or email