6 - 25 November 2008
about the exhibition
Kirrily Hammond’s paintings, prints and drawings combine lyrical imagery with specific sites and hazy memories. The resulting enigmatic and dreamlike landscapes invite silent contemplation as they explore the intricacies of human interactions and personal experience. As Sasha Grishin says of her current work, “she enjoys creating a sense of pervading mystery and employs slightly nostalgic and romatic imagery, usually veiled in mist ….- she is an artist who triumphs in the sense of otherness”. Kirrily’s works are points of intersection between the scapes of the imagination and those physically experienced by the artist. 19th century literature and art of the Symbolism movement are important points of departure. In this show Kirrily was inspired by the Fiordlands of New Zealand and the rural/industrial landscapes of Gippsland in south eastern Victoria. In the resulting transfigured landscapes she sets out to discover something slightly otherworldly in the everyday.
Kirrily Hammond studied at the Canberra School of Art and Glasgow School of Art, graduating with Honours in 1997, and completed a Masters in curatorship at the University of Melbourne in 2002. She was a Graduate in Residence at the Canberra School of Art in 2000 and also undertook a printmaking residency with Megalo Access Arts in 2000/2001. Kirrily has had a successful career as a curator, taking up roles for Canberra Museum and Gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and currently at Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne. Kirrily was employed in the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and, in 2005, was awarded a Harold Wright Scholarship to study the prints & drawings collection at the British Museum in London. Her work is held in numerous private collections as well as the collections of the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland; the Australian National University, Canberra; University of Wollongong, NSW; Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria and Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria.
