Art memory in the making: Q&A with Meet the artists Curator Julie Ewington

What’s great about Meet the artists?

It is an inspired project: the next best thing to actually meeting the artists. You see them in their studios; you hear them speak candidly about their lives and art. Focusing on artists living and exhibiting in Queensland, the James C. Sourris AM Collection of Artist Interviews is internationally significant, a testament to contemporary creativity. Together with recent works by 8 of the interviewed artists, and a selection of the objects, books and documents that fuel their thinking and making, Meet the Artists explores the inventiveness of artists today.

What makes this collection important?

This collection of beautifully filmed interviews, made in Queensland, is one of very few of its kind in the world: it chronicles living artists, in generous detail. The interviews take in entire lives and careers. Some artists, such as Brisbane’s much-loved Madonna Staunton, and Gordon Shepherdson, and the great gallerist Ray Hughes, have already passed away, so their interviews are especially valuable. This is first-class oral history.

How has it been different, curating an exhibition for a memory institution like State Library rather than an art gallery or museum?

Meet the artists was fascinating. It allowed me to work with artists I know well, but in a very different way. I worked for decades in art museums, including at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, where the emphasis is on making viewer experiences of art as immediate and as compelling as possible.

At State Library, the emphasis is on bringing together different forms of information, by assembling a variety of materials – films, art, studio tools, memorabilia, references – that together cross-pollinate the processes of memory, and stimulate our desire to understand. Judith Wright, for example, has loaned beautiful antique pieces from her home that inspire her; Leonard Brown has revealed painters’ studio secrets from the past; Sandra Selig shows us how she constructs intricate works from discarded books: she makes poetry out of thin air.

Why did you choose the 8 highlighted artists and what’s exciting about their work?

Choosing just 8 from more than 30 fantastic artists was a tough call: the collection includes very different artists, and an astonishing variety of works. The focus here is on living artists. All except one live in Queensland, and they come from across the state: audiences will see that artistic talent and invention springs up anywhere, everywhere: on K’gari (Fraser Island), which is Fiona Foley’s Country; in Alpha in the dead centre of the state, where Luke Roberts was brought up; and in suburban Brisbane, which still haunts Anne Wallace’s imagination.

You’re also celebrating the art of filmmaking …

Filmmaking is the quintessential 20th century art form, and most of the James C. Sourris AM artist interviews have been filmed by cinematographers (together with sound recordists and editors) based in Queensland. It’s important to recognise the excellence of their art, too.

What are some of your exhibition highlights? 

The highlight of the exhibition was seeing what the artists are doing now. With Eugene Carchesio, there is a constant experimentation: his materials remain the same, but his ideas roam widely. Vernon Ah Kee is showing recent sculptures made from police riot shields: he continues to hold Australian society and institutions to account in their treatment of First Peoples. Since Vernon’s interview was the very first in the series, filmed in late 2010, it was important to show where his work has taken him since then.

What makes Meet the artists a must-see?

Meet the artists at State Library is presenting the interviews on a big screen, surrounded by works chosen by 8 featured artists and materials generously loaned from their studios. The interviews are accessible at any time online, but Meet the Artists expands on the films. It’s one moment in time that celebrates the ongoing work of the remarkable contemporary artists based in Queensland.

Julie Ewington is a writer, curator and broadcaster based on Gadigal Country in Sydney. She was Head of Australian Art at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art from 2001 to 2014. 

State Library acknowledges Marica Sourris and James C. Sourris AM for making the artist interview collection possible.

Meet the artists

Hear their words, see their work.
Free exhibition 
25 February – 9 July 2023
slq Gallery, level 2
State Library of Queensland

Explore our Meet the artists programming 

Buy the limited-edition Meet the artists exhibition publication

Learn more about the art and design collections at State Library of Queensland