Dance Me to the End of Love: Journeys from birth to death in the SAM Collection
18 Mar 2023 – 11 Feb 2024
Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
Leonard Cohen
From their individual perspectives the thirty-nine artists in Dance Me to the End of Love share stories of a life lived and delve into connective experiences of creation, parenthood, spiritualism, life seasons, death, and the afterlife.
Also making its return is Melbourne-based artist Penny Byrne’s darkly humorous 2009 ceramic work The Four Horsemen of the 21st Century Apocalypse. Comprising of four figurines, each horse and its rider confronts the issues that threaten the globe in the 21st century, including overpopulation and shortages of food and water. Pairing found ceramics with reclaimed children’s toys, Byrne juxtaposes the starkness of her subject matter with kitsch in her contemplation of global crises.
Artists: Janet Beckhouse, Sarah Boehme, Peter Booth, Godwin Bradbeer, Penny Byrne, Katthy Cavaliere, Yvonne Cohen, Julie Dowling, Dulcie Enalanga, Ida Enalanga, Irene Entata, Janet Fieldhouse, Mark Galea, Norah Gurdon, Stanislav Halpern, Brent Harris and John Loane, Noreen Hudson, Judith Inkamala, Sam Jinks, Esther Kennedy, David Larwill, Elizabeth Moketarinja, Hedwig Moketarinja, Elaine Namatjira, Nell, Ann Newmarch, Trevor Nickolls, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Kathleen Petyarre, Hugh Ramsay, Carol Rontji, Virginia Rontji, Judi Singleton, Sally Smart, Long Tom Tjapanangka, Angela Valamanesh, Hossein Valamanesh, and Maggie Watson.