Image: Detail of work by Melissa Peacock, Title ‘ Box Hill Hand Spinners & Weavers’
.
Current and Upcoming Exhibitions
JUNKO AZUKAWA
The Wisdom Of Animals & Nature
9th May – 20th May
Opening Night: Thursday 12th May, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Shinto – literally Way of the Gods – is a form of animism where gods pervade all aspects of life
and natural phenomena, including the wind, sun, moon, water, mountains and trees. Shinto
underlies the deep appreciation of beauty in nature and the changing of seasons at the heart
of Japanese customs & lifestyle. (Referred from National Gallery of Victoria)
Nature is full of surprises and wisdom. Throughout our experience of several lockdowns, we
had to adopt new ways of living and communication with family and friends but the ways of
nature were unaffected. In our limited lifestyle, I learned so much from my cats in the house
and from the birds, insects, fish, flowers and trees outside.
In this exhibition, I would like to share the wisdom I receive from animals and nature through
Japanese ink paintings which is my most comfortable way of expression and communication.

AWAREAWAY
The School of Plastic Fish
Monday 23rd May – Saturday 28th May
Opening Night: Thursday 26th May, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
From the creators of Debris, multimedia artists and not-for-profit social & environmental
enterprise Awareaway bring the School of Plastic Fish exhibition to Whitehorse and
Manningham. The School of Plastic Fish grapples with the concerning prediction that by 2050
there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.
Carefully crafted artworks from soft plastic waste made by school kids at Box Hill Community
Arts Centre and Awareaway hang from the ceiling to form a school of fish, reminding us of
the urgency to protect wildlife from plastic waste. As individuals we struggle to be heard,
but together we can cry out with this collaborative artwork and make a statement for our
community. To complement the community artwork a documentary with older community
members plays about a time before plastic and an animation by Jun Bin Lee invites us to
think of the systems that work against our efforts to protect our environment. We invite the
audience to discuss these issues and think about what can be done to positively change our
wasteful systems and behaviours.
communication and creativity by presenting Nature as the ultimate and endless artistic
muse.
