23 October 2024

The Dowse Art Museum is proud to present Night Blindness, the first solo exhibition in New Zealand by acclaimed contemporary artist Yhonnie Scarce (Kokatha and Nukunu peoples) opening on 8 November and running until 9 March 2025. This groundbreaking exhibition features Scarce's innovative large-scale glass installations, rooted in extensive research and deep personal connections to the histories she explores.

Scarce, born in Woomera, South Australia, holds a Master of Fine Arts from Monash University. Her works are held in major public collections internationally. Recently she has exhibited at The Armory Show New York, the Aichi Triennale Japan, Gropius Bau in Berlin, had a major survey show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the soon to open Sharjah Biennial. She uses glass as both a political and aesthetic lens to address the colonial trauma and displacement of Aboriginal peoples.

At the heart of the exhibition is Missile Park (2021), a striking installation featuring three scaled-down sheds that reference the military base in Woomera. Once a site of nuclear testing by the Australian government in the 1950s and 60s, Woomera is now unliveable due to residual radiation levels. Scarce’s sheds, constructed from found galvanised Zincalume and painted with bitumen, serve as a monument to remember the Aboriginal lives lost during this period and offer visitors the experience of being inside the structures while being enveloped by darkness.

Inside each shed are twenty hand-blown glass bush plums, symbolising people and functioning as metaphorical timebombs. These delicate yet resilient glass fruits are blown using Scarce’s breath and the story of her whakapapa (ancestors), intertwining themes of memory and loss. She says: “I create work to not forget.”

Bush tucker, or native food, plays a vital role in Scarce’s work, underscoring the enduring connection between Indigenous communities and their land. As Scarce reflects, “Every single bush banana, bush plum, and long yam is a loving memorial through breath and body and remembrance. These fruits are fragile, resistant, and ever-present.”

Night Blindness invites viewers to engage with profound themes of trauma, resilience, and cultural identity, fostering a deeper understanding of the historical narratives that shape contemporary Indigenous art.

Curator Milly Mitchell-Anyon says “This exhibition has been eye-opening, even for me. I had no idea about the extent of nuclear testing that was undertaken in Australia. As a country, New Zealanders are acutely aware of the nuclear testing in the Pacific, our nuclear-free legislation, and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior – but I did not know that a nuclear bomb named ‘Taranaki’ was dropped in South Australia in the 1950s.

“Scarce’s work is of course beautiful, but it also does something else. It opens the doors for us to delve into histories of nuclear testing in Australia and the ongoing effects for First Nations peoples.”

The title, Night Blindness, refers to both the lack of foresight and the health issues that rapidly rose for those living close to the testing sites.

Yhonnie Scarce: Night Blindness will run until Sunday 9 March 2025. More information can be found at https://dowse.org.nz/

Works courtesy of the artist, THIS IS NO FANTASY and City of Yarra Collections, Melbourne.

The Dowse Art Museum is a free public gallery for people to enjoy contemporary art and culture. Open 10am-5pm daily, The Dowse is located at 45 Laings Road in Lower Hutt, just a 15-minute drive from Wellington City.

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