BROUGHT TO LIGHT

Brought to Light: Hidden Newcastle Revealed is a multi-arts, three stage project, comprised of an artist residency, workshop and exhibition. The project is funded by ArtsNSW and involves the interrogation and investigation of three "hidden" sites located throughout Newcastle, NSW. The project hinges around the collaboration of several cultural practitioners: artist Darren Siwes, poet and writer Mark Treddinick ,  and visual artist Matthew Tome.

The process of inquiry will be promoted widely throughout the community to help foster interest in historical narratives and the role that artists often play in bringing to light common stories or collective memories. By ‘unearthing’ the historical secrets specific to Newcastle, Brought to Light and its mode of investigation, is an artistic project that contributes to the revitalisation of public authorship and innovation in community arts.

The exhibition will be open to the public in May 2010 at the John Paynter Gallery and the various sites involved.

THE SITES 

The Map of the World Baths – Former Young Mariners Pool (1937)

Part of the prominent social and leisure beachside facilities built between the two world wars, the Young Mariners Pool was a 20 metre wide elliptical map jutting 20cm above the water featuring red coloured concrete for Commonwealth countries and green for rest of the world. Children played and canoed on and around the continents. In the 1960’s, the map was damaged during a cyclone and for safety reasons it was removed in 1968, though remnants of the concrete map on the floor of the pool remain covered in sand. Adopted from British seaside spectacles, it was very popular during its time and has now evolved into local mythology with disparate stories of its ruins and whereabouts. Today known as the Map of the World at Newcastle Beach, this is a hidden treasure that summons a variety of images and stories within the community.

City Arcade - Former Municipal Baths (1888)

The Newcastle Borough Council public swimming baths opened in 1888 and were built by Mr. James Russell, on the site now know as City Arcade. The largest bath was 90 feet (27.5m) in length and 35 feet (10.7m) wide, with water pumped via a sea pipe at the east end of Scott Street. The façade of the present building was remodeled by Jeeter Rod and Hay in 1936 as the City Arcade, where it was stripped of its original classical ornamentation, but the original baths façade is still discernible. The baths closed after only ten years but the pools were never removed. They remain intact in the sub-floor of the building.

AA Company House, Denison Street Hamilton

Australian Agricultural Company House is a significant element in the AA Company Newcastle coal mining group as the central administration site for the 1850s and 1860s operations of the Company around the profitable Borehole Seam, Hamilton, and as the residence of a number of senior staff. The Company’s Newcastle coal mines were the first modern, large scale mines in Australia. The arrival of the Company could be regarded as the most important event in the nineteenth century history of Newcastle, as it dominated the course of the area’s history for much of the nineteenth century and had profound effects on the future development of Newcastle as a City.

AA House and its site are unique in their ability to demonstrate aspects of the cultural and family life of the Company’s senior staff. The house, with its high level of integrity as a nineteenth century residence, is powerfully evocative of the more ‘human’ side of the Company. The house was forgotten by the public, slowly slipping into decay, until 1990 when its AA Company connections were re-discovered and it was purchased by Newcastle City Council.

THE COLLABORATORS

Darren Siwes, born in South Australia, is an Aboriginal artist based in Adelaide who is of both Indigenous and Dutch descent. He completed a Bachelor of Vis Arts (Hons) (1996) and a Graduate Diploma of Education (1997) at the University of South Australia. His, at once, recognisable and haunting photographic works are increasingly sought after by public and private collectors alike. A recipient of the Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship (2002), he has his work in several major collections, including the National Gallery of Australia as well as most of the state collections. Inspired by Tracey Moffat and Gordon Bennett, Darren’s photographic works investigate the possibilities of Indigenous Australian art in new forms and new media. Darren has a strong interest in politics, history, philosophy and cultural dynamics, and in particular, the current cultural climate of Australia.

Mark Tredinnick is a poet, essayist and writing teacher; he lives in Burradoo, in the highlands southwest of Sydney in Australia’s southeast. His books include The Little Red Writing Book (published in the United States and the United Kingdom as Writing Well: the Essential Guide), The Land’s Wild Music and A Place on Earth. The Little Green Grammar Book was published by UNSW Press in Australia in September 2008; The Blue Plateau—a landscape memoir on which he has been at work for some years—appears in Australia in May 2009 and in the US in October 2009.

Mark’s writing has appeared in Best Australian Essays, Island, Manoa, Mascara, Orion, PAN, Southerly and other journals and newspapers; his essays, criticism and poems have been published in chapbooks and anthologies, and he writes regularly for The Bulletin. Mark’s honours include the Newcastle Poetry Prize (2007), the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize (2005), The Calibre Essay Prize (2008), and the Wildcare Nature Writing Prize (2005).

Matthew Tome is currently Head Teacher, Fine Arts at Newcastle Art School, Hunter St TAFE.  His practice is multidisciplined, centred on drawing but using many forms, methods and scales. He has a deep interest in history and has an MA in Ancient History. His work however deals with a wide range of subjects and cultural references. He was awarded an Art Gallery of NSW Paris studio residency in 1997, and exhibited work in Paris. His work has been selected for the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery 'National Works on Paper' and twice for the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award touring exhibition.

Matthew's work has been acquired by numerous private and public collectors including; Artbank, Art Gallery of South Australia, Old Parliament House Collection-Canberra, Queensland State Library-James Hardy Collection, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum and the State Library of Victoria.

Brought to Light Image Gallery

More images : Brought to Light site visits