Exhibition dates: Fri 10 Jan – Sat 1 Feb
Opening: Thurs 9 Jan, 6pm
Open Tue – Fri 10am – 5pm, Sat 11am – 3pm, free entry

Jane Giblin’s I Shed My Skin, A Furneaux Islands Story is a 3-year project, investigating a family and community, originating in the Furneaux Islands of Tasmania.

The exhibition explores the story of how a family’s involvement in the mutton-birding industry is changed by the return of Big Dog Island in Franklin Sound to the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania.

Big Dog Island is where Jane’s Great Grandparents built their birding sheds and was the site of the annual industry that typified their island life. Now, as the rightful property of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, this island community have had to re-adjust their practices.

Jane explores the community’s story through her own family – a family whose experiences have been shaped by their combination of Indigenous and non-Indigenous family members. Some may continue their commercial mutton-bird enterprise, with access to rookeries once used by all. Others must now adapt their practice to amateur regimen in different islands.

This story, with its specific history, geography and characters, acts as a microcosm of such changes across Australia.

The touring exhibition I Shed My Skin, A Furneaux Islands Story is the culmination of Jane’s research, a component of which included a professional creative partnership with the Tasmanian geographer and poet Pete Hay.

The exhibition of new work includes large ink and pigment works on paper, lithographs, analogue black and white photography, an artist’s book (with text by Pete and images by Jane) and a catalogue with an essay by Pete.

CONVERSATIONS WITH THE ARTIST
Sat 25 Jan, 1pm

Join Jane Giblin for Conversations – a free, casual event where you can meet the artists currently exhibiting at MAC and hear more about the stories behind their work.

Image: Jane Giblin, Doreen Willis, Cassidy, 2018, ink and pigment on Canson aquarello, 150 x 120cm