Gail Harradine: Inaugural AIR x Seventh Gallery Resident
Report for the 2024 AIR Program between WAR and Seventh Gallery
WAR and Seventh Gallery ran their first artist-in-residence (AIR) collaborative program this year. The expression of interest callout was conducted in January 2024. The successful applicant would have access to a studio space at Seventh Gallery and the opportunity to use the archives at WAR. The project would culminate in a gallery exhibition in July-August 2024.
Gail Harradine, a Wotjobaluk, Djubagalk, and Jadawadjali arts practitioner, curator, and teacher successfully applied for the residency. From March to August 2024, Gail worked between a studio space at Seventh Gallery and the WAR archives which led to the exhibition Maiya Burnan Nyauwi (Winter Sunrise). She was also linked to RMIT’s Printmaking department for this research project as a guest artist. The exhibition consisted of various new works across the media of printmaking, photography, craft, and archival material.
Upon her research at WAR, Gail identified a dearth in the archives relating to information on Victorian First People’s women. The importance and meaning of collecting material about communities is investigated through Gail’s research. As a facilitator for the AIR x Seventh Gallery Project, I had the opportunity and the privilege to learn about Gail’s creative process and how it relates to her history and passion for her First People sovereignty.
In the early stages of the residency, Gail shared her interest in layering stories, life experience, and passed-on knowledge. Her exhibition has astutely depicted through a beautiful collection the way one’s life journey ebbs, flows, and connects to others. Gail’s residency at WAR and Seventh was a success in terms of inaugural collaborative project. Not only has Gail’s research project initiated conversation regarding archiving methodologies of Victorian First Peoples’ women’s artworks, it explored other means to integrate one’s established art practice with the existing valuable archives.