Goolugatup Heathcote nagolik Bibbulmen Nyungar ally-maga milgebar gardukung naga boordjar-il narnga allidja yugow yeye wer ali kaanya Whadjack Nyungar wer netingar quadja wer burdik  ∞  Goolugatup Heathcote nagolik Bibbulmen Nyungar ally-maga milgebar gardukung naga boordjar-il narnga allidja yugow yeye wer ali kaanya Whadjack Nyungar wer netingar quadja wer burdik  ∞  Goolugatup Heathcote nagolik Bibbulmen Nyungar ally-maga milgebar gardukung naga boordjar-il narnga allidja yugow yeye wer ali kaanya Whadjack Nyungar wer netingar quadja wer burdik ∞

Improbable Returns

Elisa Markes-Young and Christopher Young

5 March - 10 April 2016

Art making has always been critical to Elisa and Christopher's well-being - in the search for their own understanding as well as attempting to communicate and connect with others.

Both bodies of work have their grounding in a search for some form of ‘origin story’, looking intimately at utopian ideals and how they contrast with reality.

As part of an installation in 'Improbable Returns', Christopher would like to request that visitors to the opening bring a small bundle of newspapers with them. These will be installed during the opening

Artists can be either dismissive or overly precious with

geography whether it be where they work or where

they came from.

The word based attached to an artist’s location suggests

impermanence, that the artist is on the move to better things

and may soon be off to become New York-, or Paris-based.

This claim to mobility implies authenticity, earnestness of

practice. They don’t actually live here.

Equally, an exotic from can be leveraged to give the illusion of

cultural capital.

Geography could be seen as a central in the practices of both

Elisa Markes-Young and Christopher Young.

Markes-Young was born in Poland and moved in 1981

at the age of 16 with her family to Germany. Although

unconsciously at the time, Poland was deep in her bones and

with this move, she was confronted with the stress of a new

country, language and social system at a critical time in her

personal development.

In 2011, she returned to the country of her birth for the first

time in 30 years. Over the course of three weeks, she travelled

over 3,500kms from the northern border city of Szczecin

through Gdańsk, Toruń, Warsawa, Kraków and down to

the south.

Contemporary Poland is a land of contradictions which

contrasted vividly with Markes-Young’s romanticised

memories of this country. In some ways, this trip was a

sobering experience.

That said, Markes-Young ultimately recovered her past

in sights, sounds and smells, and this revisit, however

problematic, forms the basis of The Original Place.

Young was born in small-town New Zealand and moved

to Germany in 1996. Isolation is a recurring theme in his

life and work. The remoteness of growing up in semi-rural

New Zealand, the loneliness of living in Germany as a poor

German speaker and lately the seclusion of life in Perth, have

all coloured his artistic practice.

Revisited for the first time in 27 years (2012) and made within

a few square kilometres, Small Town is an intimate look at a

rural community where he spent his first 10 years.

The work was made in the depths of winter on the North

Island. He looked at both his experience as a child and in

2012. By revisiting places as well as engaging sections of the

community, he hoped to replicate the sensations, colours

and smells he’d previously experienced.

Markes-Young and Young moved to Perth in 2002. As with

other moves, it has proven tainted by feelings of ideological

and geographic isolation.

Added to this, both artists often feel on the outside looking

in, not belonging, not understanding and not understood.

In this collective loneliness, they seek some form of comfort.

Art making has always been critical to their well-being

yet producing work has been a constant battle against

pragmatism and reason.

It is a language that they both utilise in the search for their

own understanding as well as attempting to communicate

and connect with others.

Both bodies of work have their grounding in a search for

some form of origin story in the artists’ pasts. They are

projects that look intimately at utopian ideals and how they

contrast with reality. The artists are aware that the places they

look for don’t exist anymore yet they remained precious and

mystical in their minds.

Improbable Returns as a collective title highlights this.

The presentation of this work is also a direct challenge for the

audience to engage with something outside their personal

space and to see the world through the eyes of the ‘other’.

Equally, it was impossible for the artists to ‘return’ but the

experiences – while confronting and challenging – have

nonetheless been reinvigorating and fruitful.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Visit

Goolugatup Heathcote is located on the shores of the Derbal Yerrigan, in the suburb of Applecross, just south of the centre of Boorloo Perth, WA. It is 10 minute drive from the CBD, the closest train station is Canning Bridge, and the closest bus route the 148.

58 Duncraig Rd, Applecross, Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia

Open 10–4 Tuesday–Sunday, closed public holidays. The grounds are open 24/7.