Art from the Heart
After the pandemic forced last year’s exhibition online, this year the United Medically Supervised Injecting Centre’s Art from the Heart is back between four walls.
The 2022 show is running at Project 107 Redfern until 17 December, and features 148 works created by MSIC clients resulting in a show of depth and accomplishments.
“It is great to be behind walls again and have people connect,” Dr Marianne Jauncey, Medical Director, Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre said.
The works consist mainly of acrylics on canvas, but also includes photographs, mixed media, pen and ink and marker pens on canvas or card.
Many of the featured artists have submitted work in past shows while others are new to having their inner expressions on public show before.
One winner and second time exhibiter is Kimberly, a young Aboriginal woman who has experienced domestic violence, homelessness and addiction.
Kimberly won the Sonia Edwards Award, a legacy of an ex long-term client of the MSIC who has since died, but wanted to leave something that other clients could aspire to.
“It has been very therapeutic for me after the assault that happened, and to paint for MSIC and to show them my art and to express how I feel has meant so much for me,” Kimberly, exhibitor said.
“Most people didn’t know that I could paint, they had no idea and it was like a surprise.”
Dr Jauncey has now seen this annual event every year since she became the centre’s director in 2008 and is continually surprised by what works the clients can create.
“At a basic level it is simply an opportunity to connect with something inside, so we use it as a tool of engagement, but we have also found it to be a very eloquent way of communication with some of our clients who might find it hard to have a conversation,” Dr Jauncey said.
“Some of the works are extraordinary and that speaks to the judgement process where we are surprised when we see such incredibly provocative and highly accomplished works of art.
It shows that we live in a judgemental society where we make assumptions in regards to their capacity, their story and their ability.”
The show is peppered with works that would stand out in any contemporary gallery, such as Kirsty James and Nathan Paul’s joint effort My Car, an exceptional work of confident simplicity and perspective, while Megan Moses references the great Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamin as an inspiration for Here’s Looking at You and Oh My God!, both using striking but very different colour palettes.
The annual show is made possible with materials and framing being supplied by the MSIC and the City of Sydney, plus a long list of corporate and private donors.
For Kimberley Art from the Heart has given her a much needed lease of confidence and hope when she said “I will definitely continue working with art and this has opened up a therapeutical way for me to get through my recovery and looking into the now, not just looking at the trauma of my addiction.”
A silent auction of the work is open until 17 December.
Dec 3 – 17 Dec, 11am-5pm Wed to Sat
107 Projects, 107 Redfern St, Redfern
www.uniting.org/artfromtheheart
