Compositional Utterances
Mandy Quadrio, Susan Hawkins and Jan Oliver

10 June—12 August 2023

The exhibition and publication were developed by UniSC Art Gallery in partnership with NorthSite Contemporary Arts. Curated by Hamish Sawyer.

ON TOUR
12 January—4 March 2024
The Court House Gallery, Cairns
The exhibition at Court House Gallery, Cairns is supported by Cairns Regional Council.

Image
Installation view of Compositional Utterances at UniSC Art Gallery. Photo: Carl Warner.

Compositional Utterances was a site-responsive, collaborative exhibition by three artists whose material-led practices share feminist and ecological concerns. The exhibition was the product of deep conversation and collaboration between Brisbane-based artists Mandy Quadrio (Trawlwoolway), Susan Hawkins and Jan Oliver.

All three artists have practices centred on the formal and narrative potential of their chosen materials: Quadrio works with sea grass, bull kelp and ochres important to her as a Trawlwoolway woman, alongside steel wool; Hawkins works with reclaimed domestic and industrial objects drawing out their potential to make sound and movement; and Oliver uses force and delicacy to alter the surfaces of her materials while considering the co-existence of animate and inanimate entities in the spaces they inhabit.

Working together as friends, collaborators and peers, Quadrio, Hawkins and Oliver brought together their chosen materials as an immersive installation.

Opening event
3pm, Saturday 10 June 2023

Big Chats x UniSC Art Gallery: Mandy Quadrio, Susan Hawkins and Jan Oliver in conversation with Hamish Sawyer
3pm, Saturday 22 July 2023