Cockatoo Island is such an interesting place! We first visited for the Biennale of Sydney 2014, and have been heading back for the event every second year since.
Due to COVID19, the Biennale was initially cancelled this year, but thankfully they’ve now reopened it with extended dates. It’s not as extensive as it has been in previous years, but definitely worth a visit nonetheless. If you’re in Sydney’s inner west, we’ve found the best way to go is via ferry from Drummoyne Wharf – there’s free street parking and it’s only a five minute boat ride (you can actually see the island from the wharf).
The 22nd Biennale of Sydney NIRIN focuses on indigenous, tribal and native art, reflecting spiritual and cultural influences on contemporary art. Here is Brook Andrews’ curatorial statement:
The urgent states of our contemporary lives are laden with unresolved past anxieties and hidden layers of the supernatural. NIRIN is about to expose this, demonstrating that artists and creatives have the power to resolve, heal, dismember and imagine futures of transformation for re-setting the world. Sovereignty is at the centre of these actions, and shines a light on environments in shadow. I hope that NIRIN gathers life forces of integrity to push through often impenetrable confusion.
Optimism from chaos drives artists in NIRIN to resolve the often hidden or ignored urgency surrounding contemporary life.
Here are a few photos from our visit…
Ibrahim Mahama’s No Friend But The Mountains is immersive and imposing. It fills the Turbine Hall with jute sacks…
We loved the works by the Tenant Creek Brio collective, painted on old screens and gaming machines. There is a display at Artspace as well as Cockatoo Island…
My favourite artwork of the day was Latai Taumoepeau’s The Last Resort, created from crushed glass and accompanied by a video of it being stomped and shattered under brick sandals. A poignant and frightening statement on the destruction of fragile saltwater ecosystems and the immediate impact it’s having on vulnerable Pacific Island nations..
re(cul)naissance by Léuli Eshrāghi…
I loved The Uprooted by Anna Boghiguian, with nomadic and rural scenes juxtaposed with the heavy machinery of the power house room. It conveyed a sense of the displacement suffered by refugees and others uprooted from their traditional lifestyles, and the “cultural genocide”, as the artist describes it, that ensues…
Similarly, the many works by the artists of Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre, on display both at Cockatoo Island and the Art Gallery of NSW, are painted on what were colloquially referred to as “refugee bags”. They make a powerful statement about the deep, systemic issues of homelessness and displacement faced by so many of our indigenous communities…
Lhola Amira’s Philisa: Ditaola, 2018-20 is multi-faceted, with music piped from each curtain. The gentle crackle of Billy Holiday’s Strange Fruit added a surreal feel…
Finally, joyously, Tony Albert’s Healing Land, Remembering Country is presented as a sustainable greenhouse at the very top level of the island. It’s worth the climb to sit inside the structure for a while and reflect on the wonderful space, surrounded by light and growing plants and indigenous basketry…
The Biennale of Sydney has now been extended until September 2020. We still have a couple of venues to visit, but hope to do so in the next month or so! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
oh my, definitely worth several visits………lucky you!
You are so lucky to have such amazing art close enough to visit, and be able to visit. Lovely, thank you so much. I would dearly love to visit.
Such amazing art , thank you for sharing with us. Here in the USA, California, we are way behind to be able to go see art, everything is still closed. And I am craving for going to art exhibitions and museums.
Thank you for sharing the magnificent artwork.
I have been lucky enough to visit Cockatoo Island and found it a beautiful place steeped in history.