Merging memories
Thursday 24 July from 6pm to 9pm
Palangi Gallery is proud to present Merging Memories, an excellent exhibition featuring two artists: Cheryl Wetsi, a painter, and Shirley Steel, a photographer.
Curated by Sydney-based artist Farideh Zariv, Merging Memories is a collaborative work by Cheryl Wetsi and Shirley Steel, two artists whose creative journeys demonstrate how evocative images can be brought together through colour and the lens of a camera to explore memory, place, and personal experience. Together, inspired by their journeys and life histories both within and beyond Australia, they navigate the boundaries of memory and time to create visual conversations that engage viewers intellectually and emotionally. Their work reminds us that memories, both distant and recent, act as vital threads connecting individuals to communities, landscapes, and moments in history.
They explore their world via different media. Cheryl Wetsi uses mixed media and acrylic paint, while photographer Shirley Steel expresses her vision through the lens of a camera. They draw inspiration from their distance and recent memories, experiences, travels within Australia and overseas, across the passage of time. They have merged their ideas and themes to provide stimulating and thought-provoking responses to the viewing audience.
The exhibition reminds us of the importance of recalling feelings, emotions, and memories associated with a particular place, time, and people who may have shared those experiences.
The fusion of artistic expression employed in this exhibition by Cheryl and Shirley, prompts spectators to not only visualise the grandeur and beauty of our environment large and small, near and far, but to remember the fragility and tenuousness of our existence and the importance of protecting and caring for it, to preserve memories for the future.
Exhibition dates: 24 July to 29 July
Opening night: Thursday 24 July, 6pm to 9pm. Includes live music performances by two professional musicians, Eleanor Streatfeild and Daniel Lopez.
Artists talk: Sunday 27 July, 3pm to 5pm