Opening of “Do you understand the Sadness of Geography?” exhibition in Allans Walk Art Space in Bendigo on 23rd Feb.

Launched by Ruth Lyon, Bendigo born sculptor, designer and educator, this simply laid out exhibition features doilies, an exquisite silk hand painted bed cover and garments from a bygone era.

The show endeavours to capture the essence of Glory Boxing - a long held tradition that transcended cultures, when women would collect from an early age (teens upwards) all sorts of items that they would use later in life when they married and left home.

On the surface one could be forgiven to thinking that that is all the show is about but as  Ms Lyon explained in her opening, it is much more than that, it is about the tyranny of distance and of “...those who are disenfranchised, those who have to leave their motherland...they’ve got emotions of hope and fear all mixed into one, and that’s a very sad concept in the light of what’s happening today of disenfranchised people floating around the planet, coming in on boats and being crashed against rocks, you can’t help but contextualise it with that [as well]...which is quite tragic...”

Ms Lyons added that with that tragedy there are also the cultural benefits in the “food and taste and everything else.”

Talking about the migrations in the 1950’s Ms Lyon went on to say that “...it was extraordinary about the arrival of the migrants from Europe was the fact that the Australian women that (sic) connected to them found that they had something very strong in common, and that was that they both had dowries and they both hoarded things.”

This Glory Boxing as Ms Lyon recounted when she was living in Bendigo in the 1950’s and 1960’s was still very strong even for females as young as 12.

I found that looking at the exquisite embroidered items I remembered my own (Australian born) mother’s linen and the similarity between them really did emphasise the fact that we are all more alike than we realise.

“Do you understand the sadness of geography?” runs until  23 March 2011.

Venue: Allan's Walk Art Space, which can be accessed via the Hargreaves Mall or Pall Mall, Bendigo.
Opening hours: Thursday & Friday 11am - 4pm, Saturday 10am - 1pm, or by appointment, phone 0404329863