A season of cool

A new exhibition in Griffith explores creativity as it moves between mediums and around the world

It's the latest event from the group who developed community art in Griffith like 2024's Night At The Museum and Action Day Photography Competition, as well as the landmark Ngurambang exhibtion in 2023.

The Stay Cool project encompasses writing workshops, Japanese-style short-form poetry and contemporary music composition, as well as photography.

This collaboration between the Riverina's Red Earth Ecology and Italian record label Naviar builds on previous exhibitions, particularly the 'Crossing Streams' exhibition in Narrandera during 2017.

Curator Jason Richardson has been a contributor to Naviar Records' weekly haiku challenges for over a decade and recorded nearly 300 compositions as a result, while also writing his own haiku and publishing the book Earthwords in 2019.

"Ekphrasis is a Greek term for art inspired by other mediums and it describes a process of synthesis that's at the heart of realising new ideas," said Mr Richardson.

"Some say necessity is the mother of invention, but I am inspired by the idea that art builds empathy as it offers the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of others.

"It's the way each of us can not help but bring our own experiences to an activity that infuses creativity with meaning and spirit, which is what Jennifer Yane identifies in their wonderful observation that 'Art is spirituality in drag.'"

The Stay Cool exhibition at the Artspace in Griffith includes six poems that were distributed with the Naviar Records community of musicians, where each inspired dozens of pieces of music linked via QR code, as well as sharing over a dozen other haiku contributed by writers attending the online workshops supported by Western Riverina Arts earlier this year.

"This collection of words, pictures and music brings together many creative people from around the world, so many that it might be the biggest group exhibition you'll see this year," said Mr Richardson.

"I encourage everyone to see how a picture and a few lines of text can lead to so many wonderful things, and feel what it's like to hear those observations interpreted as movements of air."

Stay Cool will exhibit from 25 April to 31 May at Griffith Regional Theatre

This project has been supported by Griffith City Council through their Regional Art Gallery, as well as financial assistance from the NSW Government through Western Riverina Arts and Create NSW.