Shaun Glad­well
Ade­laide Bien­ni­al of Aus­tralian Art: Free/​State

Free/​State assem­bles a group of artists who are fear­less; the provo­ca­teurs, van­guards and out­siders – chal­leng­ing his­to­ries and art forms, and in the process, offer­ing reflec­tions on an era of mul­ti-faceted glob­al upheaval. The exhi­bi­tion explores ideas of tran­scend­ing states, from the spir­i­tu­al and artis­tic to the psy­cho­log­i­cal, and embraces notions of free­dom in expres­sion, cre­ation and collaboration.

Deliv­er­ing new and unex­pect­ed visions of trans­for­ma­tive per­son­al and pub­lic moments, in medi­ums span­ning pho­tog­ra­phy, paint­ing, sculp­ture, instal­la­tion and the mov­ing image, Free/​State presents a mul­ti-gen­er­a­tional col­lec­tive of artists hail­ing from every Aus­tralian state and territory.

As cura­tor Sebas­t­ian Gold­spink explains, ​‘Each of these artists is emblem­at­ic of the many diver­gent facets of con­tem­po­rary Aus­tralian art. Diver­si­ty is embraced and cel­e­brat­ed in Free/​State and the exhi­bi­tion is reflec­tive of a nation still in the throes of grap­pling with its past and defin­ing its future.’

Shaun Glad­well presents Key Strikes (2022) at Free/​State.