Telling the tale of WA history

Telling the tale of WA history

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Invisible Genres curator John Mateer at the John Curtin Gallery during the set up of the exhibition earlier this week. Photograph – Matt Devlin.

The John Curtin Gallery will host a unique exhibition commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Dutch discovery of Western Australia from September 22.

Invisible Genres features works from 12 artists including five international artists.

It traces the path of Dutch sailor Dirk Hartog from the Netherlands to South Africa and Indonesia before landing in WA.

Exhibition curator John Mateer said all the works thematically or directly tied back in some way to the discovery of the west coast by the Dutch.

“Instead of viewing history as a thing of the past Invisible Genre’s kind of reframing of history is a means of reimagining the present,” he said.

“The gallery has never had a show with so many works in it before.”

John Curtin Gallery director Chris Malcolm said the exhibition was ambitious and brought together artists of an extremely high calibre.

“We are delighted to be working with curator John Mateer to bring this ambitious exhibition to Perth audiences, which at its very heart references the ramifications of an often-overlooked Dutch discovery,” he said.

The exhibition will run at the John Curtin Gallery in building 200A at Curtin University until December 4.

Mr Mateer will deliver a talk about the works at the gallery on September 28 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

For more information visit johncurtingallery.curtin.edu.au.