Opening Friday 18 November 2016 and running until 05 February 2017, the exhibition includes a range of media including sound recordings of an iceberg melt, glacial carving and glacial retreat, video projection of ice in its many manifestations; as sea ice, glacial ice, icebergs, mountain ice and rime; large-scale ink drawings of arctic fauna and photographic prints. 

The show will launch on Friday 18 November, with guest speaker Jimmy Cocking, Director of the Arid Lands Environment Centre and an artist floor talk will be held on Saturday 20 November at 10.30am, providing a great opportunity to hear from Suzi Lyons herself.

 “Ms Lyon brings the beauty and wildness of the Arctic region to life in this exhibition,” said Araluen Cultural Precinct Director, Dr Mark Crees.

“Lyon delivers this wild, yet extremely fragile view of the Arctic region as a result of climate patterns shifting and the extreme vulnerability of glaciers and the juxtaposed imagery of the Centre’s extreme desert environment and the heavily glaciated Svalbard Archipelago subject matter will be stunning,” he said.

The Into Blue exhibition asks the viewer to consider the implications of our actions on such a distant and different ecology, how the way we live, the decisions we make, collectively affect the whole earth ecosystem, including our own.

The paradoxical placement of this Arctic exhibition into the desert’s summer intensity leads to questions regarding our effect on that landscape and environment, from this great physical and psychological distance.

The artwork in Into Blue was developed over several visits Lyon made to the Arctic, including The Arctic Circle expeditionary artist residency.

Lyon explains that the residence encompassed; “sailing aboard a tall ship, close to the North Pole, in the company of 27 other artists, three Amazonian armed guards, a husky dog, a grumpy Captain, and a very capable and lovely crew.”

Suzi Lyon has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been involved in many arts projects and residencies, across Australia and internationally. She is a visual arts lecturer at Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs.

Media interviews

Araluen Cultural Precinct Director, Dr Mark Crees 08 8951 1126

Artist Suzi Lyon can be contacted directly - 0402 073 175

Image caption: Suzi Lyon, The king and I, 2010, digital print on rag paper, 80 x 120 cm.