Curator and artist Katie Sandison brought together 16 South Australian women painters for Figurative Impressions and Abstract Expressions, presented at Adelaide Airport in 2022.
The exhibition deliberately operated outside the conventional gallery system. Installed near the airport’s departure gates, it placed figurative and abstract painting in a public environment used by travellers rather than a specialist art audience.
A platform created through direct contact
Sandison developed the exhibition by approaching artists whose work she considered vibrant, committed and distinctive. The participants were Eliza Piro, Katie Pearson, Megan O’Hara, Kari Bienert, Katie Sandison, Melanie Crawford, Jackie Reichstein, Elizabeth Wojciake, Pia Kuykhoven, Kirsten Chambers, Gail Glasper, Sarah Keane, Simone Linehan, Bianca Smith, Renee Goulding and Sarah Kubcke.
The range of approaches allowed the exhibition to place representation and abstraction beside one another without forcing the works into a single theme. Its shared focus was the visibility of women who had built active practices inside and outside formal gallery structures.
Art in a transit space
Adelaide Airport offered a type of exposure unavailable in many galleries. Passengers encountered the paintings as part of an ordinary journey, potentially reaching people who would not have chosen to visit an art venue.
The project was developed during the continuing complications of the pandemic, requiring collaboration between the curator, artists, the airport and supporting organisations. A prize connected with the opening also supported the Zahra Foundation, which works with women and non-binary people.
The exhibition remained on display from 1 May to 10 July 2022. By using a transport hub, Figurative Impressions and Abstract Expressions tested how independent curatorial work could create public visibility without waiting for access to the traditional gallery circuit.