2019 - Who are these strangers and where are they going?

Presented as a part of the 2020 Sydney Festival

Who are these strangers and where are they going? was an exhibition presented by the National Art School in January 2020. The exhibiton was a 30-year survey of the work of Dr Fiona Foley, one of Australia’s most acclaimed, insightful and challenging contemporary artists. Running from January 8 to February 8 at the National Art School Gallery, the show premiered in August 2019 at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale in Victoria. 

The exhibition brought together Foley’s acclaimed photographic series, large-scale installations, and the Sydney debut of a new musical soundscape premiered at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. The title for the show came from the soundscape, created in collaboration with musicians Joe Gala and Teila Watson, based on the oldest known Aboriginal song documenting the first exchange between Captain Cook in 1770 by Foley’s ancestors the Badtjala people of K’gari (Fraser Island).

Other major pieces in the exhibition include a 10-metre-long installation of 3,000 oyster shells; Foley’s celebrated 2001 photographic series Wild Times Call; and a new collaboration with Ballarat collective Pitcha Makin Fellas, installed alongside Foley’s 2018 work Horror Has a Face.

This exhibition was developed by the Ballarat International Foto Biennale where it premiered, 24 August – 27 October 2019.

Sourced via The National Art School, Sydney Festival and The Ballarat International Foto Biennale: https://nas.edu.au/events/fiona-foley/, https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/fiona-foley-who-are-these-strangers, https://ballaratfoto.org/events/fiona-foley/