PANEL DISCUSSION
Remaking Modernism: Sam Cranstoun, Natalya Hughes, Andrew McNamara and Hamish Sawyer
11am Saturday 28 October 2023

The subject matter in much of Sam Cranstoun’s work reflects the artist’s interest in lesser-known aspects of significant twentieth-century figures and events. These histories become case studies to explore the complicated legacy of modernism and the way its utopian goals of political and social change have not eventuated as intended.

This panel discussion will focus on how the legacy of modernism informs the work of artists today. Chaired by Hamish Sawyer, Cranstoun will be joined by fellow artist, Natalya Hughes and Emeritus Professor Andrew McNamara.

Sam Cranstoun is a Meanjin (Brisbane) based artist whose multidisciplinary practice combines various forms of research with a wide array of media to create work that investigates different systems of representation. His work regularly focuses on historical figures and events as a way of exploring how history is shaped, how it functions and how we as spectators rely on different visual systems as a way of understanding the past.

Natalya Hughes is a Meanjin (Brisbane) based artist whose practice is concerned with decorative and ornamental traditions and their associations with the feminine, the body and excess. Recent bodies of work investigate the relationship between Modernist painters and their anonymous women subjects.

Andrew McNamara teaches art history and theory and is an Emeritus Professor of QUT. His research interests include modernism; contemporary art; Australian and indigenous art; design and architecture; critical cultural theory in relation to technology, society and media; and aesthetics.

Hamish Sawyer is a curator and writer and is currently Acting Director of NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Gimuy (Cairns). Sawyer has more than fifteen years experience in programming and management roles across the commercial, government and not-for-profit sectors.

Image
Left to right: Hamish Sawyer (Photo: Sam Cranstoun), Sam Cranstoun (Photo: Sam Cranstoun), Natalya Hughes (Photo: Rhett Hammerton) and Andrew McNamara (Photo: Claudia Baxter)