Exhibition cost:                     Free

In 2023, FireWorks Gallery celebrates their 30^th birthday and remains one of Brisbane’s longest standing commercial galleries. The year promises a diverse program of exhibitions that both pay tribute to the gallery’s early foundations, and also anticipate its place in Brisbane growing arts landscape. First up are two solo shows by First Nations artists Joanne Currie Nalingu (Brisbane) and Paul Bong (Innisfail).

Since its inception in 1993 Joanne has been a constant figure at the gallery, refining her meticulous technique of melodic river line paintings. This latest exhibition It flows presents 20 new works that consolidate Joanne’s longstanding ideas of water as a universal life source via a powerful yet peaceful linear treatment.

Following on from her successful retrospective (with fellow artist Jennifer Herd) at Caloundra Regional Gallery, Joanne’s exhibition includes a major multi-panel painting that measures over six meters; wrapping the corner wall of the mezzanine gallery. Alongside this are new paintings reminiscent of evening light apparently glowing through Joanne’s signature river lines and a collection of highly coloured paintings featuring Maranoa shield motifs and Gungarri language.

Joining the gallery in 2016, Paul Bong’s show, Past & Present: Sculpture and Prints features a range of rustic new bronze sculptures displaying elements of his signature rainforest shield designs. These will be displayed for the first time, alongside his handmade etchings and archival reproduction prints. Paul’s latest exhibition Past & Present draws its title from the 2022 book Etching Past & Present (Published by AndAlso Books) detailing the raw passion of his unique artistic practice. Paul’s sculptures and prints contain imagery of fragmented shields and artifacts alongside symbols of colonial regalia. These elements are meshed and layered in a frantic collage that simultaneously challenge, inspire and invite curiosity around the ongoing narratives of Australian settlement and frontier conflicts in Far North Queensland. 

Gallery Director, Michael Eather comments, “Both Joanne and Paul have the common language that is drawn from of their traditional shield designs. Each have taken something from these ancestral stories to recreate their own contemporary visual language. For Joanne this language relies on reduced, contemplative designs that evoke a calmness and fortitude. For Paul, it’s the compelling evidence he unearths of the fractured objects and material culture that speak volumes of otherwise obscure tales. Together, these images equally force us to meditate on our shared histories, acknowledging our past within the present”.