APT9 Exhibition Report

Above: Installation view of Jonathan Jones’s untitled (giran) 2018 / Purchased 2018 with funds from The Myer Foundation through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation to commemorate the 25th anniversary of The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Photograph: Natasha Harth JONATHAN JONES This major installation, untitled (giran) 2018, evokes a murmuration of birds in collective flight. The sounds of wind, bird calls and breathing circulate throughout the space as the voices of Wiradjuri speakers whisper softly in the 48-channel soundscape. ‘Understanding wind is an important part of understanding Country,’ says Jones. ‘Winds bring change, knowledge and new ideas to those prepared to listen.’ 1 The artwork includes roughly 2000 separate sculptures of six types of tool, each made from a different material: bagay — an emu eggshell spoon; galigal — a stone knife; bingal — an animal bone awl; bindu-gaany — a freshwater mussel scraper; dhala-ny — a hardwood spear point; and waybarra — a rush ‘start’ (the beginning of a woven item, such as a basket). The objects embody the knowledge passed down through generations and represent the potential for change. Jones made many of the base ‘tools’ himself, as well as working with family members, Wiradjuri community and long-time artistic collaborators — including Ngarrindjeri artist Aunty Yvonne Koolmatrie — from across the country’s south east. The process of making brings people together, and enhances connections to the land, culture and language. Bound to each tool with handmade string is a small bundle of feathers, gathered from birds from the broader community. People from all over Australia sent Jones packages of feathers, many with handwritten notes. 2 ‘Slow down, look around, listen to the birds,’ Jones asked of his feather-collecting collaborators, offering a quote from the late Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Michael Riley: ‘I see the feather, myself, as sort of a messenger, sending messages onto people and community and places’. 3 Thanks to the generosity of Tim Fairfax AC, the Gallery was able to acquire this major work for the Collection through the QAGOMA Foundation. Endnotes 1 Conversation with the artist, 28 May 2018, and quoted throughout. 2 Many sent feathers in response to a call out from Kaldor Public Art Projects, which hosted Jones’s previous major work, barrangal dyara (skin and bones) 2016. 3 Quote from the artist’s website, Michael Riley, <www.michaelriley.com.au/cloud-2000> , viewed July 2018. 15 EXHIBITION