ANU School of Art alumni installation at NGA highlights environmental issues
Chandeliers made from uranium glass. Image: www.kenandjuliayonetani.com
Two ANU alumni are behind an eye-catching installation opening at the National Gallery of Australia on 12 December.
The exhibition, titled The Last Temptation, feature works that highlight the ecological footprint humans are having on the planet.
One of the artists behind the collaboration, Ken Yonetani, graduated with an MA in Visual Arts from the School of Art in 2005. His collaborating partner Julia Yonetani completed her PhD at the-then Research School of Pacific Asian Studies in 2003.
They started working together in 2009, the same year Ken's work featured in the Venice Biennale.
The exhibition is a response to the side effects of human activities that are impacting the environment, such as Japan's 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident or the environmental impacts on the Murray Darling Basin.
Artworks on show include large chandeliers decorated with specially-sourced uranium glass which glows when it is near UV light.
A nine-metre banquet table representing the last supper, made entirely of salt from the Murray Darling Basin, will also be on display at the National Gallery's contemporary space.
"That's looking at issues relating to food and sustainability," Julia says. "It's also looking at problems to do with salinity."
The exhibition will run until 27 March 2016.
More information can be found on the National Gallery of Australia website.