Deakin’s gallery in the sky

Deakin’s gallery in the sky

By Meg Hill

It’s not well known that there’s an art gallery at the top of a Docklands building overlooking the city – Deakin University’s Downtown Gallery.

The gallery shares level 12 of Collins Square’s Tower 2 with some of Deakin’s corporate spaces and rotates art out of the university’s collection of more than 2000 works.

The entire space is sprinkled with art that demands attention, even outside of the main gallery room. Indigenous art is a large focus.

A striking piece by Boneta-Marie Mabo, granddaughter of indigenous land right activist Eddie “Koiki” Mabo, sits above the stairwell. The work (pictured) is titled Your Label and shows, on one side, two hands pushing through black velvet in reference to a slur used to describe black women.

On the other side, Mabo shows black women in the way they want to be depicted – including a powerful depiction of her grandmother, Bonita Mabo.

“We’ve included an Indigenous focus to provide a sign of respect to the indigenous communities who inhabit the area,” said art collection and galleries senior manager Leanne Willis.

“We named each room in Deakin Downtown, with consultation with elders, after indigenous nations in the area.”

Downtown’s next exhibition, Gosia WÅ‚odarczak’s Artist Not@Work, opens on April 9.

The project is a series of 31 performances that took place each day throughout December 2017.

While dressed up in designer garments selected from her wardrobe collection, Wlodarczak was photographed completing various domestic chores around her home.

The project sets out to establish a dialogue between the two phrases: the artist is always working and women’s work is never done.

Her free artist talk is running in the space on May 1 from 3.30pm to 4.30pm.

RSVP to [email protected].

Find Deakin Downtown at level 12 of Tower 2, Collin’s Square, 727 Collins St.

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