An exhibition showcasing the artworks of 24 outstanding HSC Visual Arts students from St George and Sutherland Shire has opened at Hazelhurst Arts Centre, Gymea.
The impact important issues of the past year had on the lives of the artists can be seen in the works on show in Art Rules.
These include natural disasters and environmental change, the impacts of COVID-19 and lockdown, multiculturalism, as well as personal interests and passions, such as space exploration, film, celebrities and dance.
Among the artists featured this year is Zoe Ball, from Bethany College, Hurstville.
For Australian Resilience: From the Ashes, she produced a triptych painting that focuses on the impact of this year's devastating bushfires.
She conveyed the different stages of regeneration of Australia's flora after the destruction of the fires, with the middle panel depicting a dramatic scene of firefighters hosing the flaming landscape.
For Impetus, Felicity Morton, from St Ursula's College Kingsgrove, captured videos of her own dance performance as well as the charcoal drawing she did, which features alongside the videos.
For Oak Park 52, Cronulla High School student Yumiko Casaceli presented three sculptures comprised of objects collected during her time in lockdown.
She gathered flotsam and jetsam - driftwood and general debris washed up by the ebb and flow of the tide from the shoreline. She said the collection of stranded objects and the tidal rhythms of the sea was a metaphor for the waves of the pandemic and its indiscriminate nature.
Aleisha Palermo, from De La Salle Catholic College, Cronulla, tried to show the human side of the pandemic with her three-panelled work, 2020 Triptych.
Palermo's grandparents are depicted wearing face masks, and the black and white drawing captures the emotions and connection people have faced globally, as they adapt and navigate a new way of living within an uncertain world.
Cameron Talbot-Smith, from St Patrick's College Sutherland, used a drone to capture images for his photomedia work, Continental Extremities, showing the extremities of the Australian landscape from the coast to the outback through drought and flood.
Details: Art Rules is at Hazelhurst Arts Centre, Gymea, until January 17, 2021. The centre is open daily, 10am-5pm. Entry is free.
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