Imagining Ned

Last week I also got to see Imagining Ned, a wonderful exhibition at the Bendigo gallery.
The gallery's website has a good e-catalogue that you can view or download as a PDF.

The main reason my friend and I attended was to see the two tapestries.  They dominated the room. I was amazed at how large they were, and how beautifully they were presented. The use of black, especially in the woollen medium, was striking.  It gave a feeling of dominance and strength.  I especially liked the depiction of Ned Kelly on the horse, looking like a medieaval knight with his lance.

These two are part of a series of five of Sidney Nolan's works that were woven at the Portalegre Tapestry Workshop in Portugal.
The weaving was very fine, the technique is different from the traditional European style and looks ever so slightly different.

There was not a lot of information about the technique but you can read about it on their website.

There were quite a lot of Sidney Nolan's paintings and drawings, as well as works by Albert Tucker.  There were also works by more contemporary artists.

It was interesting to see some of the artefacts from Ned Kelly's life.  I felt sad when I read the newspaper article about his youth and the waste of a young life. The petition to not implement the death penalty was also moving, especially in light of recent events relating to the execution of two young Australians in Indonesia. It feels as though the more life changes the more it stays the same.

On a lighter note, there was a silent movie running that had the saved film from what is recognised by UNESCO as the first feature film in the world. Of course, it is based on the story of the Kelly Gang (otherwise it would not have been in the exhibition!).