The Weight of History

Peter Kennedy Mao Tse Tung (1893-1976) 1992,Monash University Collection, Purchased 2000.

Switchback Gallery, Centre for Art and Design
Monash University, Gippsland campus
15 May - 22 June 2007
Curator: Melissa Keys

Exploring the life of the history in the present, this exhibition examines the enduring influence of things past. In an age shaped by the proliferation of media and instant access to vast archives of information and images, the very substance of history weighs upon the present like never before. Drawn from the Monash University Collection, The Weight of History is as much about the vagaries of our individual and collective memory and imagination as it is about the authority and influence of canonical histories. The featured artists’ reference historical moments that range from the obscure and almost forgotten, to the iconic and momentous, grappling with the weight of the past.

See also:

• The Weight of History installation views (pdf 725kb)