By Eleanor Wilson
Bunjil Place’s adult art evening Night MODE returns on Thursday 7 April for its ‘Cycle of Life’ edition.
Attendees can explore all things life and death between 6pm and 9pm, with exhibitions, artist conversation and a live DJ to set the scene.
Included in the evening showcase is discussion group Death Café – a global movement working to normalise discussion around death, surrealist portraiture exhibition ‘Look Into My Eyes’, and Vivian Qiu’s Sentimental Rice Jewellery workshop.
Ms Qiu’s workshop uses handmade rice fabric to create jewellery pieces based on meditation and self-reflection.
The multi-disciplinary artist said the mental health toll of the Covid pandemic led her to create the project.
“In terms of this project I would approach it by reflecting on my emotions that day and would design my jewellery based on that emotion,” she said.
“When I was studying fashion I realised designing garments takes a long time…when I have the urgency to express myself through art making jewellery is a much quicker outlet.”
Ms Qiu said the handmade rice fabric is the “essence of the whole project.”
“When working with rice fabric, some people like to play with it because It’s very meditative to hear that sound and that crunch and people can smell the rice aroma so it’s a very different art experience, “ she said.
Night MODE: Cycle of Life is also platforming graduate VCE exhibition ‘Emergent’; showcasing artworks from south-east local VCE students.
Fountain Gate Secondary School student Zaib Abbas was one of several students chosen to co-curators the exhibition.
“We found the themes of the exhibition were based around identity; especially considering mental health and cultural backgrounds, of course the global pandemic also made us all stop and look at our identities too” she said.
“There’s also a big focus on the environment and sustainability.”
The exhibition includes work from local students studying unit 3 & 4 Art, Studio Art, Media, Product Design and Technology, and Visual Communication and Design, which Ms Abbas said makes for an inspiring display of talent.
“There’s so many different elements of art being displayed, it’s not just paintings. There’s clay-work and textiles and a whole range of different platforms,” she said.
Emergent is running from Saturday 2 April to Saturday 16 April at Bunjil Place and is also featuring at NightMODE on Thursday 7 April.
