Mackay Artspace Mackay, Northsite Contemporary Arts Cairns, Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts Townsville, Gatakers Artspace Maryborough 2020-2021
The touring exhibition of the combined works by two far north Queensland artists, Barbara Dover and Robyn Glade-Wright, Disquiet: Ecological Anxieties and Transformations, interrogates the ecological impacts of marine and coastal plastic pollution.
Research shows that discarded plastics now contaminate the diets of 90% of marine bird species, as well as turtles and seals. Plastic never disappears; it simply breaks up into microplastics, forming an underwater “smog” affecting everything from plankton to human aquaculture.
Images of tropical Queensland evoke pristine landscapes with stretches of golden sand edged by blue water. However, Glade-Wright and Dover challenge this idyll by bringing attention to that fact that coasts are now pervaded by pollution. The artists use actual discarded marine debris as their materials to produce objects impressive in their scale and assemblage.
