In Conversation: Damien Shen with Dr Ashley Crawford

In Conversation
Damien Shen with Dr Ashley Crawford

When: Saturday 6th March 2021 1.30–2.30PM
Where: Benalla Art Gallery – Simpson Gallery
Price: This is a FREE event
Bookings: Numbers are strictly limited. To secure your place, phone or email Benalla Art Gallery:
T 03 5760 2619 or gallery@benalla.vic.gov.au

Join us for an intimate conversation between artist Damien Shen and leading freelance cultural critic, Ashley Crawford. This free event coincides with Shen’s A Stone from Another Mountain, presented at Benalla Art Gallery as an Official Exhibition of the PHOTO2021 International Festival of Photography.

Crawford writes of Shen, “he is an artist who has become nationally renowned both for his remarkable skills as a draughtsman and for his unique explorations of personal background.” Through this conversation, learn about Shen’s multi-disciplinary practice, which combines painting, traditional drawing techniques, and wet-plate collodion photographic processes to explore his rich combined heritage of mainland China and the Ngarrindjeri peoples of South Australia.

SPEAKER BIOS:

Damien Shen is a South Australian man of Ngarrindjeri (Aboriginal) and Chinese descent. As an artist he draws on both of these powerful cultural influences to create works of intense personal meaning. In using his artistic talent to share his story he aims to open the eyes of viewers to new ways of seeing Australian identity and Aboriginal art. His work is held in numerous leading public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia (ACT); Monash Gallery of Art (VIC); Art Gallery of Ballarat (VIC); and Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (NSW).

Dr. Ashley Crawford is a freelance cultural critic, author, essayist, arts journalist and curator based in Melbourne. He is the author of a number of books on Australian art, including Spray, The Work of Howard Arkley (co-author, Craftsman House, 1997) and, most recently, Dark Gnosis: Religious Imaging in Millennialist America (Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2018). He has been a regular contributor for numerous notable publications, and is the former editor of Tension, World Art, 21•C and Photofile magazines.