Mixed Media / “The Grand Scheme”, Chris Round; “Huon”, Noah Thompson and “Between presumption and melancholy”, Toni Hassan. At the Huw Davies Gallery until June 30. Reviewed by CON BOEKEL.

COMBINED, the three exhibitions examine the nexus between development, the environment, climate change, and being human. 

They reflect an artistic zeitgeist energised by heat, drought, flood and fire – the four horsemen of the climate apocalypse.

Round spent 10 years photographing the Snowy Hydro Scheme. The genre is photo-realism. The medium format photography suits the big sky country and generates expansive imagery.

It is refreshing that, unlike the majority of Australia’s contemporary landscape imagery, some of Round’s landscapes have people in them. 

Why is this so? The answer is technique. Round starts with what is in front of him and documents it. He is avowedly apolitical about this. If people are there, they will be in the image. If they are not there, they won’t be. Round has an exceptional eye for composition, colour and light. 

Thompson’s exhibition is set in Tasmania’s west, again using medium format photo realism which here has a peculiar optical impact. 

Big things tend to appear smaller and small things tend to appear bigger. Two prints represent opposing poles. 

One is a Dombrovskis-like archetypical moody stream scene. The other is a stark picture of the Mt Lyell mine. 

Thompson exhibits some excellent portraits of the people who live, work and play between those poles. The portraits are complemented by images of their material culture – a trampoline, trail bikes, and a cupboard with home-made conserves. 

It is the portraits which give Thompson’s exhibition its power. They are intensely personal. 

Hassan’s exhibition consists of three videos and accompanying audio. The context is the Black Summer fires. The environmental and personal consequences are described in apocalyptic terms. The focus on human suffering, species loss and of the immense number of individual animals killed in the fires.

Hassan’s exhibition is framed as women discussing and processing their often traumatic fire experiences as well as their grief at the massive biodiversity loss. One of the videos shows an Australian flag fluttering in the breeze. Another shows images of a plane flying forwards and then reversing – flying backwards – as the video is reversed. This video also features calm water. The third video mainly features glittering sunlight. Hassan’s visuals aptly support introspection, reflection and the heartfelt audio discussions that complement the overall exhibition.

Hassan’s practice reverberates personally.

This exhibition generates urgent existential questions and I highly recommend a visit.