The Australian Gothic: Nalda Searles and Theo Costantino in conversation with Andrew Nicholls

John Curtin Gallery

Wednesday 23 September 12:30pm – 1:30pm

Andrew Nicholls is an Australian/British writer, artist and curator whose practice draws upon historically marginalised aesthetics, cultural appropriation, imperialist tendencies, and recurrent artistic tropes. Join Andrew in conversation with Nalda Searles and Theo Costantino, two artists whose early lives were spent in Western Australia’s remote Goldfields region, for a discussion of their art practices in relation to the Australian Gothic.

Nalda Searles creates fibre and textile works that reflect upon the lives of those who dwell within the Western Australian landscape. Her haunting Grass Skull 2, (2008) features in the 50fifty:2020 exhibition.

Dr. Theo Costantino works with sculpture, drawing, video, photography and written prose. Their artwork often draws upon colonial histories, typically in a grotesque manner, as in the works from their Daughters of Midas series (2016) which also feature in the exhibition. Theo is the Executive Director of ART ON THE MOVE, WA’s only organisation dedicated to touring
contemporary visual art.