CHRISTINA FRANK
Christina Frank’s drawing based practice finds expression in various media, using materials and techniques responsive to each project. She concerns herself with beauty and the natural world, invariably touching on connections to people and place. Searching for metaphors she explores underlying rhythms and patterns of landscape, its psychological and spiritual underpinnings and power to shape identity.
From a background in architecture, Christina has exhibited in group and solo shows at Eramboo artist environment, recently participating in the Raw Clay Lab project, Manly Art Gallery, Northern Beaches Creative Space, The Corner Store Gallery and Be Brave Artspace. She has been selected for events including Eden Unearthed, North Sydney Art prize, Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize, Kangaroo Valley Art Prize, ‘Four Elements’ series with Northern Beaches Council, ‘On Islands’, ‘Art in Odd Places’ and ‘Avalon Carnival’ collaborative public art projects, Lake Light Sculpture, Sculpture in the Gardens and Sculpture in the Vineyards.
Exhibiting Sculptures
3. Pram
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‘I have always been torn between the sadness of my history and the beauty of my country. Sometimes I can feel that the land itself understands this struggle.’
Stan Grant, ‘Talking to my Country’ 2016
As an Australian grappling with the history of our country, I have sought a visual metaphor to speak of beauty and sadness in the land: a pram, symbolic of new life, joy and possibilities, disturbingly stands empty. Something is awry; loss and the stolen generation is suggested. Mobility presents opportunity and adventure but could also suggest displacement and perpetual moving on.
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Modeled on mid-century styling, ’Pram’ is formed of recycled wire, materials used for fencing: dividing up the land, claiming and usurping ownership, shutting people in and out. Woven with bush materials, strands of wool and faded shreds of clothing, the ‘bush’ and humanity is entangled. Wool from the sheep, irrevocably changed the land.
Dimensions: 60cm wide x 110cm long x 100cm high
Materials: Recycled Wire, Fabric, Wool, Bush Materials
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16. Moses Australis
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‘Moses Australis’ explores protection and vulnerability.
A sleeping baby, perfectly formed and peaceful, nestles in a basket woven from bush materials. The baby is at once secure in the arms of ‘mother earth’, but absurdly helpless and alone in the Australian elements. Like Moses in the rushes on the edge of the Nile, this baby has been entrusted to the protective power of nature. Moulded from flesh coloured clay, the baby is at one with the earth, but also embodies vulnerability.
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Australia is a continent of extremes, compelling inhabitants to shelter at its milder edges. At the same time, Australia has provided an island of refuge to waves of immigration. The ancient Moses story resonates powerfully today as ever more people are displaced worldwide. Compelled to trust precarious circumstances and the mercy of nature, their vulnerability is unchanged from the time that the baby Moses was placed in the river.
Dimensions: 120 x 60 x 45 cm
Materials: Clay, Muslin, Recycled Wire, Bush Materials
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