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Gabrielle Bates
Concrete Unknowns | 2022
Concrete Unknowns. @ Angus Avenue
Crossroads, bus shelters and town centres are just a few sites of energetic convergence that sit between present time, function, and folkloric imagination. Some say they are haunted. In 2021, Kandos community members participated in physical transformation rituals to engage with and magically activate such sites. Photos of their psychic negotiations between more-than-human realms and place were digitally manipulated, then pasted up close to these original sites for Cementa 22 as part of a larger exploration of how we occupy, understand, and enchant place through witchcraft and ritual. This project has been made possible with the support of an Orana Arts Restart Grant in partnership with Create NSW.
bio:
The art practice of Gabrielle Bates has evolved over 30 years into an immersive investigation of how we occupy, understand and enchant place. In 2007 she undertook a year-long residency in Kuala Lumpur, which led to subsequent residencies in Penang, Manila and Australia. These experiences introduced her to community-inclusive approaches to cultural production, as well as prompting her masters research into Witchcraft, ritual and creative site activation. In Australia, Gabrielle’s art works have been selected for highly-regarded award exhibitions, she has received numerous commissions, and produced 13 solo exhibitions. She works between Gadigal and Wiradjuri lands, and pays respects to elders past, present and emerging.
statement:
The core principles of Witchcraft are the foundation of Gabrielle Bates’ work, which combines Animist thinking with ritual practices to explore how magic can be used for expression and political action in troubled times. Gab works directly with community and performance in places of folkloric significance, which are often regarded as haunted. Her explorations rely heavily on ephemeral materials to advocate for things that are forgotten, unloved and unseen, and her final pasteup posters are often absorbed and reclaimed by the places in which the performances took place.
Angus Avenue
Scrum | 2024
Scrum. @ Kandos RSC Club
Scrum is a mobile sculpture of bodies. Bodies in formation, conflict, collaboration. Inspired by Rugby Union, League and strategic planning processes, Kandos-based artist Gabrielle Bates connects community sporting associations with the Cementa community to negotiate physical movement through agreement. Prior to Scrum, participants can workshop their own sports identity uniforms to wear during this ultimate clash of community. Will there be winners? Will there be losers? Only Scrum has the answers.
bio:
Gabrielle Bates is an interdisciplinary artist with over 30 years of experience in the arts. She completed her Master of Art (research) degree at UNSW Art & Design in 2018, and has undertaken numerous art residencies locally and internationally. Gabrielle’s art works have been selected for Australian award exhibitions including the Bowness Photography Prize (2021), Fishers Ghost Prize (2019, 2023), Blacktown Art Prize (2018), Tim Olsen Drawing Prize (2018), Portia Geach Portraiture Prize (2006) and she won the Henry Award for Abstract Art in the Linden Postcard Prize (2019). In 2022, Gabrielle relocated from Gadigal Land in Sydney to Wiradjuri Land, Kandos, regional NSW, where she facilitates Cementa Inc’s Uncooperative Youth Arts Program while continuing her own private art practice and community collaborations, including the ongoing site-specific project Building Song.
statement:
I work across painting, photography and performance to explore the socio-political and supernatural thresholds of places and their communities. Questions around ownership, agency and collaboration are at the core of my socially engaged art practice, in which I create conditions for different groups to negotiate with each other, places, buildings and materials to develop performative outcomes. I’ve worked with children, young people, artists, activists, performers, choirs and event management teams to successfully produce projects with dynamic and emotionally charged outcomes. My projects include Tree Shriners (2017-2020), Sleep Walkers (2015-ongoing), Dub Circle (2019), The Uknowns (2019-2021), Building Song (2022-ongoing) and Cementa Inc’s Uncooperative Youth Arts Program (2023-ongoing).
Kandos RSC Club
This project on Wiradjuri Dabee Land could not be possible without the generous time and support given by Cementa Inc, Susan Barling, Jack & Leslie Pennell, Kandos Community Club, Susan Barling, Peter Swain, Kandos/Rylstone sporting associations, Georgina Pollard, Alex Wisser, Daina Sander, and the Kandos community.
