The Island
Newcastle Art Gallery
18 February - 7 May 2017
This solo exhibition contemplates and questions Australia’s role in the asylum debate. ‘The Island’ as a concept can be a safe place of refuge, isolated geographically and ideologically from the humanitarian challenges the world is currently grappling with. Alternatively it can take on a more sinister tone as a place deserted for those who have survived a perilous sea journey only to be marooned, stateless, detained, looking to the horizon for help.
In Europe today, the mass movement of refugees and asylum seekers displaced by war and poverty is history repeated. Where once immigrants were embraced as a means to drive the health and economy of nations, today we turn inwards as the ideology of walls and fences become potent political capital. Seton transforms and manipulates his marble sculptures into emphatic motifs and metaphors of these current socio-political themes and narratives.
Photography: Mark Pokorny
Odyssey 2014
5.1 surround sound stereo, laptop mixer, single light bulb
Infinite soundscape
The immersive sound installation Odyssey is a perpetually evolving computerised soundscape recreating the harrowing sounds of being caught in a heavy storm at sea. The work premiered at Linden Centre for Contemporary Art as part of Last Resort. A single globe hanging in the centre of the room provided the only visual focus for the audience to gather together and listen to the tumult.
Someone died trying to have a life like mine 2013
Wombeyan marble, nylon webbing
dimensions variable
Seeking Safe Harbour 2015
Bianco Carrara marble, rope
101.0 x 101.0 x 65.0cm
Last Resort 2014
Wombeyan marble
dimensions variable
Paper Armada 2015
Bianco Carrara marble
dimensions variable
Oilstone 04_Saturated 2016
Bianco Carrara marble, engine oil, glass tank
47 x 98 x 24cm
