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Writer's pictureShelby_Brand

[IN]SITE – An open borders exhibition.

Cannery Art Centre – ESPERANCE


Despite an invitation and a desire to attend, I missed out on the opening night of [IN]SITE – An open borders exhibition. This display is presented as a conglomeration of creative expression centred around the concept of ‘borders’ created during the COVID pandemic. However, when I found out the exhibition would run until the 30thOctober, I made sure to attend at my earliest possible convenience, today, two days after it began.


The first thing that I noticed when walking into the gallery was the absence of background elevator music, the only sound being the small, polite greeting at the door. The silence allowed the artwork to truly speak for themselves and for this I was highly appreciative. The next thing I noticed was the colour white. White walls and white stands, this, I noticed, added to the power of the individual pieces.

I’ll be the first to admit that I can look at world renowned pieces of art and go ‘huh?’ without the slightest understanding of what I was looking at. To truly understand the artworks of this exhibition, taking the time to read the bio of each artist was essential. Although the artists all took a different approach towards the central theme, it was with the very first artwork I viewed when I stepped naturally to the left, that had my attention fully captured. I didn’t need to look at the artists name to know exactly whose artwork it was. “Get Dirty” by Jenelle Griffiths (AKA as Nelli Zapparelli on this occasion), for me summed up COVID in one piece of art, it captured the many words and phrases that became familiar terms during the pandemic. The next piece that resonated on many levels, for me personally was “The Portal of Souls”. I could one day picture this artwork in my perfect home yoga space (which is always a work in progress and yet to properly happen.)


I appreciated all her artworks and felt the energy that went into each one. Jenelle has such an ability to portray her inner mind for the world to see and creatively capture the essence of the pandemic and the borders that arose.


Although I’ve only mentioned one specific artist here, it’s purely because of my personal connection to Jenelle, with her being my tattooist and all. This personal connection allowed me to look deeper at the artworks and instead of saying ‘huh’ with a confused expression, I was able to go ‘yeah, I get that’. The other artworks on display are just as worthy of viewing and appreciating and if I had a personal connection to them, I’d be writing about them as well.


Well done to all the artists who designed, created and entered a collection of works into the exhibition, I can’t wait to go back regularly and check out future exhibitions.


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