Join us for the launch of
Paradoxes of Paradise on Saturday 1 July at 2:00pm.
This fascinating exhibition has been curated by Creative Hybrids Lab (CHL), an international collective of artists who are also organ transplant recipients, critically engaging with their lived experience of chronic illness and transplantation.
Official speeches will commence from 2pm and will be followed by an in-conversation with the visiting artists.
The in-conversation will a selection of CHL members, including: Andrea Barrett (UK), Dominic Quagliozzi (USA), Dylan Mortimer (USA), and Tereza Crvenkovic (AUS). The conversation will explore how each of the artists process their lived experiences with organ transplantation through their artistic practices.
EXHIBITION OVERVIEWOrgan Transplantation, also known as the Gift of Life and a Second Chance of Life, frequently has an aura of paradisaical mystique surrounding it. With good reason: transplantation is truly transformational. Yet there is much more to transplantation than what is conveyed by mass media and medical professionals.
Creative Hybrids Lab (CHL) seeks through a variety of mediums to hold space for and elevate the voices of the vulnerable. Sometimes a transformation can be so overpowering that one can never ‘return to normal.’
We live within the context of a culture that perpetuates gaps between stories told about illness and disability, and actual lived experience. Our culture wants us to say that our transplants have returned us to normal life, but the reality is different. Transplant recipients depend on toxic medication to stay alive, and exist as permanently immunosuppressed, which inevitably takes a physical and mental health toll.
Paradoxes of Paradise features works exploring the various paradoxes of the paradise that is transplantation, created and curated by CHL members: Andrea Barrett (UK), Bianca Willoughby (AUS), Dominic Quagliozzi (USA), Dylan Mortimer (USA), and Tereza Crvenkovic (AUS).
Touching on environmental sustainability, facets of medical trauma, spiritual influences, and more, it is a show not to be missed for those with an open mind, and the curiosity to step into the mindscape of organ recipients.
If you are attending the Paradoxes of Paradise Launch, you may also be interested in:MIXED MEDIA MEDIC – a Drawing and Collage Workshop with Creative Hybrids Lab and artist Dominic Quagliozzihttps://tickets.casulapowerhouse.com/Events/MIXED-MEDIA-MEDIC-a-Drawing-and-Collage-WorkshopMIXED MEDIA MEDIC will run 11.30am – 1.30pm on 1 July 2023, prior to the official exhibition launch.Join Dominic Quagliozzi, and members of the Creative Hybrids Lab, for a drawing workshop before the launch of the
Paradoxes of Paradise exhibition at Casula Powerhouse. This program is intended for people who have/had or currently experience chronic illness, disability or pain, and their caregivers.
IMAGE CREDIT Dylan Mortimer, ‘AIRWAY CLEARANCE,’ 2015, Glitter and Paint on Paper. Courtesy of the artist
