Crosscurrents presents newly commissioned works by Brad Darkson, Chris De Rosa, Honor Freeman, Michael Kutschbach, Sonya Rankine, and Mary-Jean Richardson—artists whose practices are deeply connected to the coastal edges of Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna, and Narungga waters, from Encounter Bay to Moonta.
Through their works, Crosscurrents unfolds as a richly layered schema of place where speculative sculpture, reimagined cultural practice, and collaborations with marine ecologies converge, alongside reflections on the stark realities of extractive bioprospecting. These works also give form to the intimate rituals of coastal life—swimming, walking, and observing the ever-shifting thresholds of land, sea, and sky.
Here, intersecting narratives reveal the myths, histories, images and objects unique to these environments while also evoking universal phenomenological experiences of the coast. Through the artists’ vision, we witness the rapture of light and atmosphere, the pull of liminality and immersion, and moments of communion with non-human entities, as well as the foreboding shadows of our shared ecological future.
Dr Belinda Howden is a writer, researcher and curator with a focus on Australian contemporary visual art. Prior to relocating to Tarntanya / Adelaide in 2019, she spent over a decade working in museums and galleries in New South Wales and taught art history and theory at the University of Newcastle. In 2021, she was lead contributor to Contemporary Art in the Classroom, an online education resource produced by Adelaide Contemporary Experimental and the Art Gallery of South Australia. In 2022 she co-authored the South Australian Living Artists monograph on Mark Valenzuela. She is currently Assistant Editor at Artlink.
Crosscurrents has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and supported by the Government of South Australia through the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
