South: Contemporary Art from Australia, Mexico and South Africa

8 August 2014 to 6 October 2014

_{Image: Zanele Muholi, Xana Nyilenda, Los Angeles 2013 (detail); Thembela Dick, Vredehoek, Cape Town 2012 (detail); Nontuthuzelo Mduba, Daveyton, Johannesburg 2013 (detail); silver gelatin prints. Courtesy the artist.}

There are many 'Souths' on our planet - the geographical, a state of mind, a way of being, a sense of difference. Located in Sydney's South, Hazelhurst was a fitting venue to explore this concept through the work of fourteen leading contemporary artists. These Australian, Mexican, and South African artists all push the boundaries of contemporary practice yet create accessible and engaging works relevant to audiences of all ages.

Many of the artworks in this exhibition were created specifically for this exhibition, such as the site–specific car installation by Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero that incorporated Indigenous motifs from many cultures and periods of history. Another site-specific ‘Southern Cross’ installation by Michael Goldberg, titled justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude10, in Hazelhurst gardens, was inspired in part by the stick charts once used by Marshall Islanders to navigate the Pacific Ocean by canoe.

Brisbane-based artist Archie Moore of Aboriginal (Kamilaroi) descent,  presented a new project titled Depaint, in which his childhood memories of place were embodied in a site specific ‘paint’ installation. Many works in the exhibition were being shown in Australia for the first time. Zanele Muholi, of South African Zulu descent, has for many years documented the ‘invisible sisterhood’ of South Africa’s lesbian community in an ongoing series of black-and-white portraits, titled Faces and Phases (2006–). South featured 80 of these strong portraits which challenged viewers to confront their own stereotypical ideas about race, sexuality and gender.

Curated by David Corbet, all of the artists featured in South push the boundaries of contemporary practice yet create accessible and engaging works relevant to audiences of all ages.