Kate Hendry
Fermata
November 15th – December 14th, 2024
Fermata presents a series of artworks developed from my interest in symbols that direct us to pause, providing a space for interpretation and nuance. A fermata used within a symphony can direct an orchestra of hundreds to sustain a note or silence, producing a heightened moment of shared suspension. Other symbols such as commas or semi-colons also prompt a pause, impeding the flow of a sentence, shifting and securing meaning. A stop sign similarly requires us to halt our progress through time and space, providing us with the opportunity to look, compelling us to note our surroundings. In a world otherwise saturated by urgent images and constant calls to action, I am interested in those precious moments when we are instructed to take time: to pause, to breathe, to feel, and to think. In this exhibition, I have borrowed from and abstracted commonly used symbols: punctuation, corrections and editing shorthand, musical symbols and wayfinding signage. I have taken motifs from an array of symbols, using directional lines, shapes, colours and spacing to play with the ways symbols break up our visual space and direct our eyes and actions. Each piece invites you to pause and consider how these simple marks influence our perception and behaviour. Kate Hendry has been making artwork that sits at the intersection between drawing and sculpture for the past 25 years. She has exhibited regularly over this period and her work is held in private and public collections in Australia and overseas. Hendry often works in series informed by motifs from architecture, the landscape and music to develop her drawings and sculptures.
