Inscription
A temporary public art installation
– part of Police Point Artist in Residence exhibition titled RETROSPECTIVE.
– part of Mornington peninsula DRIFT Arts Festival.
Opening event at the Commanding Officers House: Friday, 22 April, 3-6pm. Everyone is welcome.
To RSVP click here.
Two locations and dates:
• 22 April – 1 May & 5 May – 8 May 2022, 10 – 4pm: Commanding Officers House, Point Nepean Quarantine Station.
• 23 – 24 April 2022: Point Nepean Historic Cemetery (as part of the 2 workshops, see below.)
INSCRIPTION presents 238 handmade flags, each with a name of the person believed to be buried at the Point Nepean Historic Cemetery whose memorial inscription does not exist and some that are hardly legible.
There are 44 burial inscriptions currently in place at Point Nepean Historic Cemetery, however about 300 people are believed to be buried there. Struck by the absence of memorial inscriptions at the cemetery, Nina discovered the list of the lost names at the Nepean Historical Society archive. Extensively researched it was compiled by Janet and Frank South in 1995.
Emerging from Nina Sanadze’s Police Point Artist Residency research in January 2020, the year of the pandemic, this new, site-specific work seems particularly poignant and timely. The field of flags, reminiscent of the flowers flapping in the wind is a first attempt to create an ephemeral and symbolic memorial to pay tribute and bring back some dignity to people who lost their lives under similar circumstances about 170 years ago.
WORKSHOP: WALK TO CREATE A MONUMENT ‘INSCRIPTION’
Saturday 23 April, 2-4pm.
Suitable for all age groups.
BOOK YOUR FREE SPOT HERE…
This is a special one-off event where participants will help an award-winning artist Nina Sanadze to create a temporary art installation titled INSCRIPTION. We will meet at the Commanding Officer’s House and take a 2km long symbolic walk together to the Point Nepean Historic Cemetery carrying 238 little handmade flags, each with a lost name now reinstated. We will install these flags at the cemetery. Clive Smith, president of the Nepean Historical Society will talk about Janet and Frank South’s research compiling this list of lost names in 1995.
WORKSHOP FOR CHILDREN: IMPORTANT CEMETARY STORIES COME TO LIFE!
Sunday 24 April, 10.30am – 12pm.
Free event for children aged 4-16.
BOOK YOUR FREE SPOT HERE…
This is a special one-off workshop at the historic Nepean Cemetery with an award-winning artist as well as children’s book illustrator and Police Point artist in residence, Nina Sanadze. Children will learn about the history of this old cemetery and the story of how names of many unmarked graves have been found. They will also help to move and reinstall the temporary symbolic installation INSCRIPTION marking these graves from the cemetery to the Commanding Officer’s House where Police Point Artist in residence retrospective exhibition is being held.
Children will also hear an incredible and inspirational story of survival of Christopher McRae, a 17-year old boy, whose family, however is buried at the cemetery. One of Christopher’s 800 descendants, his great grandson David McRae will call us on facetime to say hi! We will try to count and visualise how many children were born in each generation since Christopher so 1 person created a legacy of 800 people in about 165 years. Christopher’s story is good enough for children’s book, so we will draw some pictures of our impressions of this story with watercolours at the at the Commanding Officer’s House and look and discuss the artwork in the exhibition.
RETROSPECTIVE exhibition
Presents works by 40 artists.
The Police Point Air Retrospective Exhibition will celebrate the works created over the life of the Police Point Artist in Residence Program coordinated by the Shire’s Arts & Culture team.
It will feature art created by emerging and established artists, writers, musicians, and creatives that have lived and created at the historic Gatekeepers Cottage.
The exhibition will feature a wide variety of works from a diverse range of artists spanning five years of residencies.
CHISTOPHER McRAE’S STORY FLAG
Christopher McRae’s Story Flag presents an inspirational tale of survival of a 17-year old boy, whose family was buried at the Point Nepean Historic Cemetery in 1853. It is handwritten by his great grandson David McRae, one of 835 descendants. Nina Sanadze created this work as a result of her Police Point Artist Residency research in January 2020. It will be exhibited as part of the exhibition Retrospective.
You can learn more about Christopher McRae in David McRae’s blog HERE…
Nina Sanadze, Christopher McRae’s Story Flag, wood, handprinted fabric, 1/1 copies, 1800mm x 950mm, 2022.