The Rituals is an exhibition that explores sacred and personal forms of ritualism and the affects that these rituals have upon the human psyche as well as the physical body. The exhibition showcases the works of four multi-disciplinary West Australian artists - Circus Carnis, Marijke Loosjes, Matthew Pope and Frater Sorath.
Rituals are a key element in society, religion and cultural events. It is their obsessive and repetitive nature that scores the actions, gestures and words heavily into the self - this drives the need to perform them regardless of the positive or negative effects for the individual. This exhibition looks specifically at the impacts of rituals on the physical body and the psyche, showing how far they can be pushed before the thresholds break.
Artist duo Circus Carnis present the body as a piece of meat, a spectacle of the ritual, to be manipulated and the psychological and physical strengths tested. Using the body as an object Matthew Pope explores ritualised marking and the relationship with the materiality of the tools that scar. Marijke Loosjes presents the various stages of the grief-stricken mind and in a cathartic process dismantles it for the viewer. Through evocation Frater Sorath jars the psyche and transfers the audience to an altered state of consciousness.
The opening night is a ticketed event which will exhibit each artist presenting one off live performances that are extensions of the fixed works shown. The performances focus on the physical body as the subject matter, using it as as the medium.
Exhibition opens at 6pm and runs till 9pm. First live performance starts at 7pm.
The Rituals exhibition runs until the 9th September at the Ferguson Foundry, 281 Guildford Road, Maylands. Gallery is open Monday to Friday 9-5pm and Saturday 10-4pm, admission on these days are free.
