Lines of Inquiry is the name of this year’s Annual HSC Visual Arts and Industrial Technology showcase exhibition hosted at Concordia Gallery. The exhibition opened on Tuesday, 9 August with more than 20 HSC Visual Arts bodies of works on display. The works are the culmination of a term of research and two terms of materially developing and resolving their artwork.

The title of the exhibition was selected as an umbrella statement for the range of ways the students have posed questions and investigated ideas and possibilities in their art making. It was also an appropriate title considering how common the characteristic of the line was. For example, Cameron Cohen (12/ME) referenced the line of the horizon in his two video works, Sam Sommerville’s (12/LE) work documented the drawn line as a symbol to represent pain over the duration of a yearlong migraine and Jackson Streeter (12/PR) repeated the line over and over again in his charcoal drawing of the past three Australian Prime Ministers reproduced on newspaper.

We also had students explore other artistic mediums such as installation, performances and happenings. Three students fall into the classification this year, Elliott Collins (12/JN), Sam Gilfedder (12/MO) and Elliot Ulm (12/LE) used these art forms to suggest ideologies and challenge norms of the human condition; the existential quest, the futile attempts at explaining the unexplainable and the rights of humans, respectively.

The quality of art as an investigation, not just an aesthetic pursuit, is a distinguishing strength of the HSC Visual Arts syllabus and something that is reflected to a high standard this year’s exhibition.

We invite all parents and students to come and enjoy the poignant exhibition before it closes on Saturday 27 August.

Ms Hannah Chapman
Visual Arts Teacher / Concordia Gallery Curator