In conjunction with the Museum of Old and New Art, Sydney’s Carriageworks will present Katthy Cavaliere: Loved later this year, a retrospective of the late artist’s body of work.
Originally presented at MONA, curated by Cavaliere’s friend Daniel Mudie Cunningham, the exhibition provides an insight into the Italian born artist’s life.
Cavaliere’s art was created through her practice of collecting and curating objects that, according to Mudie Cunningham, “held a symbolic significance; she used them to banish the past, but in doing so, was never able to let go of anything.”
Cavaliere’s video performance piece Loved was presented at the Venice Biennale in 2011. Cavaliere regarded this as the high point of her career, with her art returning to her home country. It is therefore fitting that Mudie Cunningham named the retrospective Loved, a nod both to his friend’s highest achievement, and to how much she is missed both by her family and the artistic community.
“Her vision was to sculpt with light in order to illuminate life’s shadows,” Mudie Cunningham wrote in Cavaliere’s obituary. “The generosity of spirit imbued in the legacy of her work survives in the way she touched those who loved her.”
The exhibition will be presented to the public free of charge, and will comprise of more than 15 of Cavaliere’s major works, spanning the period of 1998 to 2011, the year before her death from ovarian cancer.
The two key pieces on display will be Empty Stockings: Full of Love (2010), a performance installation comprised of her mother’s stockings, piles of clothes, and other mementos with a recorded song from her family archive and Afterlife (2011), a photograph of a large hourglass containing the ashes of the her mother, also a victim of cancer, with the artist’s shadow looming above it.
Katthy Cavaliere: Loved will be exhibited at Carriageworks’ Sydney space, from August 5th until September 11th. Entry is free. More information can be found at the Carriageworks website.
Header image: Empty Stockings: Full of Love, 2010, by Katthy Cavaliere. Photo: Mona/Remi Chauvin
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