Ghos-ti

“Benz’s work invites us into a more intimate space of domesticity and childrearing, in which the role of nurturer is largely occupied by animal surrogates. The series takes an ambivalent stance with regards to relationships between human and nonhuman, as well as parent and offspring. These scenes mirror the duality of parasite and host, master and subject, owner and possession, but it’s not always clear where power or agency lies. As in Patricia Piccinini’s work, this symbiosis of human and non-human raises questions about the labour of care and the ethics of reproduction. Despite the beauty of the images and their folkloric allusions, we are left to wonder at their darkness, which implies a certain brutality on the part of their human subjects, this mass of flesh and bone forever reproducing and consuming, generating more waste for a polluted planet, passing on a contaminated inheritance.”

The works in Ghos-ti, through their seductive and skillful aesthetics, and their biting humour, position the viewer as a guest, or outsider, in a vast network of human and nonhuman relationships. The question of how to be a good guest on this earth, rather than an invasive pest, is particularly pointed in the context of settler colonialism, here on stolen land, besieged by urban development and resource extraction. This is challenging work, in the sense that it poses a challenge to the viewer to consider their personal responsibility in a time of crisis, and in this, offers a path forward, and space for hope.     

Dr Theo Costantino, excerpt from Ghos-ti opening speech.

Exhibition with Dr Anna Nazarri and Tori Benz.