Air

Change Jonathan Jones and Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM ask us to open ourselves to the unknown. They challenge us to pay attention, breathe deeply and sense the changing winds, to look out for fallen feathers and observe the birds that soar above us. Jones and Grant share elements of Wiradjuri knowledge and invite us to join them to learn from Country and culture. untitled (giran) 2018 is named for the winds, and the change that a new wind brings. The work is a vast figure 8 murmuration composed of a soundscape and almost 2000 separate sculptures in six types, each of which brings together a traditional tool and a specific group of feathers. Every tool embodies knowledge passed down through generations and represents the potential for change. Jones speaks of each idea, each tool, as being limitless in its potential. Chalk, a humble tool for learning, is one of British artist Tacita Dean’s preferred mediums, which she utilises to put forward suggestions, rub them out, field additional ideas and expand on them. Our capacity to learn is deeply reliant on doubt, failure and our continued efforts to work towards a solution. In her monumental drawing Chalk Fall 2018, Dean takes us to the edge of a precipice. The white bluff she describes is perhaps one of the iconic White Cliffs of Dover, made of solid layers of chalk. These cliffs are not only the edge of England but also represent a more universal precipice of uncertainty for Dean, which began as Brexit debates tore at the fabric of her country and a dear friend entered a sudden mortal decline. Chalk Fall also captures the moment a section of the vertiginous cliff succumbs to the rising seas — the solid land’s edge gives way to air. In a small pair of drawings, Ali Kazim illustrates a moment in motion, as well as the rise and fall of civilisations. At first glance, Untitled (cloud series) 2018 describes a single cloud group, high in a clear sky, rendered in delicate tones of grey. This amorphous image is a delight to look at — the viewer’s eye is drawn to the distinct edge between cloud and air. There is no intimation of bad weather. But Kazim’s Untitled (storm series) 2018 is much more foreboding. A cloud wall surges forward, dispersing what looks like birds or dust. The landscape of the Punjab region of Pakistan, where Kazim paints, is scattered with the ruins of ancient Indus Valley civilisations, now reduced to shards and small fragments. Jonathan Jones with Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM / untitled (giran) (detail) 2018 Tacita Dean / Chalk Fall (detail) 2018 41 40 Do we all breathe the same air? Do we all breathe the same air?