Filomena Coppola

I Stand Alone, Arcade, Level 1/119 Hopkins Street, Footscray. Wednesday 30 August – 16 September, 2017.

Filomena’s current work explores the role of the feminine within her cultural experience of being born in Australia to Italian immigrant parents. Her upbringing dictated that women should be married, and only when married do they have currency and an attributed value within the community. Unmarried women are perceived as other or remain the responsibility of the father. The value of women as individuals, the equality of women and the acknowledgement of the power of the feminine is the driving force in this work. I Stand Alone  and Here I Am reflect this intensity of belonging to a culture that is still learning to accept women, honour their choices, their feminine strength and their power as unique individuals in this diverse society.

I Stand Alone, pastel on paper, 109h x 75w cm, 2016

Here I Am, pastel on paper, 109h x 75w cm, 2016

Installation View of Filomena Coppola’s exhibition I Stand Alone at Arcade, Levels 1/119 Hopkins Street, Footscray. Image: Corinna Berndt

Earthly Tales brings together three bodies of work to tell a story about migration, the role of the feminine, the environment and place. The works include Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, pastel drawings from the Wallflower Series and collages from the Fish out of Water intervention project which features the sardine painted on gum leaves. This exhibition is my first in Western Australia and introduced my work to a new audience and in a new environment. I was particularly interested in showing Fish out of Water – Murray Cod in its entirety for the first time and to gauge its response amongst a community that is reliant and aware of its own river system, the Avon River. This exhibition was also combined with a two week residency in which I based on the Avon River and the environment. This will result in an exhibition of works in York in October, 2018.

Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, 9 redgum shelves individually etched, 9 colour photographs, and 9 petrified redgum forms and gouache. Each component measures, approximately 23h x 30w x 25d cm, overall dimensions variable, 2015

Detail – Goolwa. Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, 9 redgum shelves individually etched, 9 colour photographs, and 9 petrified redgum forms and gouache. Each component measures, approximately 23h x 30w x 25d cm, overall dimensions variable, 2015

Detail – Swan Hill. Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, 9 redgum shelves individually etched, 9 colour photographs, and 9 petrified redgum forms and gouache. Each component measures, approximately 23h x 30w x 25d cm, overall dimensions variable, 2015

Detail – Bonegilla. Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, 9 redgum shelves individually etched, 9 colour photographs, and 9 petrified redgum forms and gouache. Each component measures, approximately 23h x 30w x 25d cm, overall dimensions variable, 2015

Installation View, Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, Colour photographs, each 40h x 60w cm, edition of 6, 2015 and Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, 9 redgum shelves individually etched, 9 colour photographs, and 9 petrified redgum forms and gouache. Each component measures, approximately 23h x 30w x 25d cm, overall dimensions variable, 2015

Installation View – Wallflower – Precious Blossom, pastel on paper, 80h x 80w cm, 2010, Wallflower – Meow, make me purr, pastel on paper, 80h x 70w cm, 2011. Fish out of Water – A Visitor, gouache, and pages from “The Reader’s Digest Complete Atlas of Australia” 1968 edition, 12 x 12 cm, 2014. Fish out of Water – Eucalypt, gouache, gum leaves, and pages from “The Reader’s Digest Complete Atlas of Australia” 1968 edition, 12 x 12 cm, 2014. Fish out of Water – Fishing, gouache, gum leaves, and pages from “The Reader’s Digest Complete Atlas of Australia” 1968 edition, 12 x 12 cm, 2014.

Installation View – Fish out of Water – A Visitor, gouache, and pages from “The Reader’s Digest Complete Atlas of Australia” 1968 edition, 12 x 12 cm, 2014. Fish out of Water – Eucalypt, gouache, gum leaves, and pages from “The Reader’s Digest Complete Atlas of Australia” 1968 edition, 12 x 12 cm, 2014. Fish out of Water – Fishing, gouache, gum leaves, and pages from “The Reader’s Digest Complete Atlas of Australia” 1968 edition, 12 x 12 cm, 2014.

Installation View, Wallflower – I can feel you watching me #1, pastel on paper, 50 x 50cm, 2013. Wallflower – I can feel you watching me #2, pastel on paper, 50 x 50cm, 2013. Wallflower – I can feel you watching me #3, pastel on paper, 50 x 50cm, 2013 with Circuit Magazine in the foreground.

Review by William Yoeman, The Western Australian, Saturday 15 July, 2017

Farewell York and Gallery152. In the window, Wallflower – The Last Belle, pastel on paper, 80h x 80w cm, 2010

I released this fish on December 21, 2016 in the Flagstaff Gardens on a very early summer morning in Melbourne. As I do every year, I put this image up on facebook and a few weeks later received this lovely message from a friend who is a facebook follower and bought one of my favourite drawings close to twenty years ago!!

Fish out of Water – Summer Solstice, 21 December, 2016

I tried to post a message on your timeline on Christmas morning but think that the eggnog influenced the output. I forwarded your Summer Solstice post to my son who lives just opposite Flagstaff Gardens in the hope that he could snare me a fish. I’ve wanted one ever since I saw the first release and he is a great geocache finder! He texted later that night to say “no luck, it must have gone – sorry dad”! Oh well. It turns out that he is a great fibber and this was presented to me on Christmas morning.

Photo of Fish out of Water – Summer Solstice, 21 December 2016 which was sent to me by the person who discovered this release.

I will set the scene a bit more. We only do simple gifts, often quirky and always inexpensive. Imagine if you will, the bottled up excitement of a loving son saving this for last and watching the surprise and rapture on his fathers face as he realises that dreams sometimes do come true. It was a great family moment! And all due to your vision, skill and enthusiasm. A true example of positive energy building as it expands outward.

Happy new year to everyone – I hope that this year builds on the beautiful energy contained in this exchange.

In this work Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, I worked with petrified red gum, which is between 5000-9000 years old and sourced from the Murray River. I made nine organic forms – grinding and sanding the wood into forms that are beautiful to hold. The petrified red gum carries within it stories of the Murray River, this continent, its cultural history, and the floods, droughts, fires that have affected this landscape. I feel that each organic form vibrates with the history that it carries. On each, I have painted a Murray Cod – a fish out of water – a comment on this changing continent, its climate, culture and demographic.

I then travelled the length of the Murray River and selected nine locations beginning at Cudgewa Creek and ending where the river runs to the ocean at Goolwa. There are two separate bodies of work in this project – one sculptural and one a photographic documentation of each fish specific to its location. Following are the the nine Murray Cod photographs from Cudgewa Creek, Bonegilla, Boomanoomana, Barmah, Swan Hill, Boundary Bend, Kings Billabong, Lyrup Flats to Goolwa.

1. cudgewa creek, victoria, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015

2. bonegilla, victoria, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 201 

3. boomanoomana, new south wales, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015

4. barmah, victoria, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015 

5. swan hill, victoria, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015

6. boundary bend, victoria, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015

7. kings billabong, victoria, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015

8. lyrup flats, south australia, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015

9. goolwa, south australia, colour photograph, 40h x 60w cm, 2015

Fish out of Water – Summer Solstice, 2013 – 2021

Fish out of Water – Summer Solstice is a development from an intervention project that I began at summer solstice, 2013 and continued through summer solstice 2014. I have been painting a lone sardine on a river pebble – the sardine is a reference to the waters near Sardegna and the Port of Napoli – the port where my parents began their journey to Australia. I then released a pebble at each of the eight sabbats. These represent the earth changes of the summer and winter solstice, the equinoxes and the four cross quarters of Lammas, Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane. Often associated with pagan festivals, I am acknowledging this history as well as connecting with the earth changes through out the year; the seasons, light and my own connection to place.

The first fish was released on summer solstice, 21 December 2013 at Elwood Beach. It was released at the edge of the breaking waves and then left behind to be either, swallowed by the sea or picked up by a beachcomber. The second was released at the Greco Roman columns near the Old Exhibition Buildings on Lammas, 1 February 2014, this was a reference to my Italian heritage. The sixth release was at Station Pier, Port Melbourne on Imbloc, 2 August 2014, this is where my parents arrived in Australia. There have been nine releases in total and the final fish in this cycle was released on the summer solstice, 21 December 2014. This project has been extended into a nine year project, Fish out of Water – Summer Solstice where I will release a sardine painted pebble at the summer solstice for each year ending 21 December 2021. The third Summer Solstice release was on 21 December, 2015 at the Speaker’s Corner, Birrurung Marr.

Fish out of Water, Summer Solstice, 21 December 2015, Speaker’s Corner, Birrarung Marr

Fish out of Water, Summer Solstice, 21 December 2015, Speaker’s Corner, Birrarung Marr

Fish out of Water, Summer Solstice, 21 December 2015, Speaker’s Corner, Birrarung Marr

Fish out of Water – Murray Cod is a work that documents a physical, cultural and spiritual journey along the length of the Murray River from Corryong through to Goolwa. The journey begins with petrified red gum sourced from the river, which is between 5-900 years old, and has been worked into pebble forms on which I have painted Murray Cod. I have photographed the painted pebble forms at nine locations on the Murray River which refers to an earlier work Fish out of Water – Sabbats . This curent work comments on our sense of place and belonging, the cultural histories the river has supported, and the changing environments from source to Murray Mouth.

The idea for this project developed from Fish out of Water – Sabbats which was an intervention project that I have been working on since Summer Solstice, 2013 and continued through until Summer Solstice 2014. For this piece I painted sardines on river pebbles and released one on each solstice, equinox and cross quarter. These pebbles rest on the petrified red gum.

The nitty gritty of working the pebble forms out of the petrified redgum. Lots of hours of grinding, sanding, blood, sweat and fortunately no tears!! These are the beautiful raw objects before the finish was applied and the painting of the Murray Cod.

A very nervous time in the studio trying to work out how to paint the Murray Cod onto the pebble form. This is the first fish that I painted and the first moment that I realized that this project could work.

The project has two outcomes. The first is a series of nine sculptural works and the second is a series of photographs documenting the fish at nine different locations along the length of the Murray River. There was much planning and consulting of maps to work out the nine locations. The number 9 relates to Fish out of Water – Sabbats and represents the year long cycle involved in that work – acknowledging the seasons, the changes of light and the journey that we travel each year.

A glimpse at one of the photographs from this series of work. Fish out of Water – Murray Cod, Lyrup Flats, South Australia, 2015.

Really pleased to be part of this year’s Hutchins Art Prize in Hobart with this work Mother Tongue – Romulus and Remus. The exhibition will open on Tuesday 8 September and is current until Sunday 20 September, 2015 at the Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart. This is always a great exhibition of contemporary work on paper.

Mother Tongue – Romulus and Remus, pastel on paper, 80h x 120w cm, 2014

Reclaiming Isis – Auset will be exhibited at Phyllis Palmer Gallery, La Trobe University, Bendigo from Monday 11 May, 2015 for three weeks. Opening event, Monday 18 May at 5pm. All welcome.

Reclaiming Isis – Filomena, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – Auset is a work that has been evolving for some time. Initially it was a growing despair which began in my cultural upbringing that women should be married, and only when married do they have currency and an attributed value in the community. Unmarried women are perceived as other or remain the responsibility of the father. The value of women as individuals, the equality of women and the acknowledgement of the power of the feminine is the driving force in this work. Currently this is even more relevant with the attacks, deaths, domestic violence and disempowerment of women. Even when women are the victims of violent acts, one of the first responses is to tell the community of women (50% of the population) that parks are not safe for women, why was she out so late, why didn’t she catch a cab. Why is the first response not to ask how can we make our parks, streets and community safe for all women, men and children. Reclaiming Isis – Auset, draws on the Egyptian goddess and her feminine, maternal, and nurturing qualities and acknowledges that these are powerful strengths. What differentiates women is what empowers them. The mysteries of creation – life, birth and death are held within her body. Women’s bodies cycle with the moon and her name is given to mother earth. This exhibition represents a selection of photographs that honours women, their choices, their feminine strength and their power as unique individuals in this diverse society.

Reclaiming Isis – Elif, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – Alice and Theodore, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – Cecilia, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – Corinna, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – Water, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – Air, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – River, colour photograph, 60 x 60cm, 2015

Reclaiming Isis – Pellegrina, colour photograph, 60 x 75cm, 2015

To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, I have selected a few of my favourite artists to share with you. Once I started thinking about it there were so many more that have been an important part of my journey as an artist. And there are those that honour woman by recognizing the importance of art as a vehicle for sharing a message – in this I am thinking about Kate Just’s Furies which is opening today at St Kilda Town Hall, Caroline Phillips and her extraordinary F-Word exhibitions, and Elvis Richardson’s COUNTess project.

Performance artist Jill Orr, Southern Cross – To Bear and Behold, 2009. Image taken from http://jillorr.com.au

Susan Dimasi, Creative Director and Designer, MaterialByProduct.
Image is taken from an internet article by ZDnet http://www.zdnet.com/article/a-melbourne-fashion-house-redefines-luxury/

Louise Heaman, Portraits of Bill Henson which won the Doug Moran Portrait Prize. Image from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/paintings-of-bill-henson-wins-150000-doug-moran-portrait-prize/story-fni0fcgk-1227105829260.

Patricia Puccinni speaking about her work The Carrier, 2012 at Melbourne Now, 2014

Fiona Hall representing Australia in the 2015 Venice Biennale. Image taken from http://w3.unisa.edu.au/unisanews/2005/August/main2.asp

Rosslynd Piggot, La Somnambule also known as The sleepwalker, 1996-1997
Mixed media, silk, hooks, coat hangers, Perspex, stainless steel. Dimensions variable.
Not signed. Not dated.Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2003 From the website of AGNSW.