• The Poles Apart art exhibition opens at the HR Gallop Gallery at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga on Friday 4 August

Creative academics at Charles Sturt University have turned their respective arts residencies in Iceland and Tasmania into a collaborative art exhibition ─ Poles Apart ─ in Wagga Wagga from Monday 7 to Friday 25 August.

Associate Professor Jennifer Munday in the Charles Sturt Faculty of Arts and Education in Albury-Wodonga and Ms Donna Caffrey are both members of the Creative Practice Circle Research Group and RE-Create Collective who in October 2022 had arts residencies on opposite sides of the world.

Professor Munday was in İsafjörður, Iceland, and Donna was in Oatlands, Tasmania; respectively, they were located approximately 5,000 kilometres from the North and South Poles and were more than 17,000 kilometres distant from each other, poles apart.

Their excursions and art making led them on a journey of discovery and they recorded what they saw, learnt, and together posted on a blog. The artists noted similarities between the two countries; colonisation and modern reliance on tourism has had a major impact on both environments.

“While easily interconnecting across the world through modern media, we both felt that we had only just begun to connect with the local communities when our residencies came to an end,” Professor Munday said.

“I wanted to explore responses to environment through enquiry conversation, and my intention was to respond in postcard format using cyanotype (a technique which harnesses the energy of the sun), mixed media and stitch.

“Donna’s focus was on the creation of cloth and paper surfaces (grounds) using mainstream art materials on which she could stitch.

“I discovered that driftwood is farmed, and Donna learnt that a Danish traveller who proclaimed himself Ruler of Iceland and was transported on a convict ship from Britain to Oatlands later claimed to be the first person to harpoon a whale in the Derwent River.”

The Poles Apart art exhibition opens at the HR Gallop Gallery (building 21) Boorooma Street at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga at 4pm to 6pm on Friday 4 August and runs from Monday 7 to Friday 25 August. After the opening, guests are invited to adjourn to The Cellars (building 413) Mambarra Drive, on campus at Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga.