JACQUELINE BENNEY
Opening Night Wednesday 12th July 2017
Waverley Library Gallery, Bondi Junction, Sydney
Crossing Depths to Where Sky is Just Sky
Collaboration with Lorne Johnson (also follow Lorne on Twitter!)
Delivered to pink and orange and cyan and yellow and pink and
orange and cyan and yellow…
Their hearts are lifted by winds racing
across the Aegean…
God’s palms rise from warming depths…
Lorne Johnson, Poem #1
In Crossing Depths to Where Sky is Just Sky, Jackie Benney and Lorne Johnson hope to shed realistic and imagined light on the plight of Syrian refugees and the exodus from their homeland; one of the largest migrations of people since WWII. In the artists’ words:
“Géricault’s ‘The Raft of the Medusa’, depicts the savagery and promise
of forced journeys - this was a great source of inspiration. We also found
ourselves challenged by Michelet, who said, “our whole society is aboard the
raft of the Medusa…” As observers, we hope to respectfully represent those
stateless peoples of 2017”.
Exhibition Opening Speech - Paul Power
We were again very blessed to have Paul Power, CEO of the Refugee Council of Australia be kind enough to give his time to speak at the opening of our exhibition. As always Paul gave us all a very insightful and heartfelt message as to the plight of Syrian refugees.