’I want it to have shock value’: Artist’s strong message

THE artist said she hopes her work, reflecting her Indigenous past and makes the audience pause and reflect.

Penny Evans is the creator of the Language of the Wounded exhibition on display at the Lismore Regional Gallery

PENNY EVANS wanted to a create a work that channelled her ancestors and reflected her culture’s past, and the result is Language of the Wounded at Lismore Regional Gallery.

The Northern Rivers NSW based artist of Gomeroi descent created the ceramic work engraved with markings which each hold their own story.

Ms Evans hopes the visually striking work, with its colour contrast and nuanced markings, makes the audience pause and reflect.

“I want it to have a shock value, I want it touch people because this is what needs to happen, people need to wake up to what’s happening environmentally and every other way.

“I want to unlock people’s feelings about being Australian … and understanding our history, the violence of our history and feeling it,” something Ms Evans said Aboriginal people are feeling all the time.

Part of the Language of the Wounded exhibition on display at Lismore Regional Gallery.

The exhibition uses the traditional Aboriginal practices of body scarification like a history inscribed on the body, where each deliberately placed scar tells a story of identity and of the wrongs done to Indigenous people.

Ms Evans said that the exhibition holds a special place in her heart given the power behind the exhibition

“This for me is probably a completion of a lifetime of working as an artist and particularly the last ten years, it’s been very much a resolving and completion for my own personal psychological and spiritual journey.”

“This is the biggest, simplest body of work I’ve ever done and in saying that, it’s the strongest body of work I’ve done.”

Language of the Wounded is on display at the Lismore Regional Gallery from August 22 to November 1. Admission to Lismore Regional Gallery is a suggested $5 donation.