ART, ACTIVISM & THE SUBLIME

An Australian artist’s quest to save a precious lake

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Australian artist Bianca Tainsh is currently here in Leipzig participating in a three month residency as part of the Leipzig International Arts program and will be exhibiting her works during the upcoming Spinnerei Rundgang Gallery Tour.  What makes Bianca’s latest project so special is its goal: to help save the beautiful and ecologically unique Lake Weyba on Australia’s Sunshine Coast from over development.  Bianca has joined forces with the non-profit activist group Friends of Lake Weyba and put her creative talents into action.

Since November last year, Bianca and Friends of Lake Weyba have been holding art shows and competitions to showcase the allure of Weyba and its cultural significance.  As part of her project Bianca spent 6 weeks filming and photographing the lake capture her own vision of Weyba.  She has also compiled The Weyba List of Species with pictures of native animals contributed by Weyba locals.

But what has art got to do with saving a lake you ask.  For Bianca...everything.  “I want my art to have purpose.”  And Bianca is not the first artist to embark on activist art projects.  There has been a diverse history of activist based art since the early 20th century.  It has taken many forms and the contemporary view is that street marches are now so common that they do not capture our attention in the way that more creative projects can.  The lake is also an inspiration to artists.  “Lake Weyba is an exceptionally beautiful and uninterrupted landscape.  It has a quality of light that has attracted many brilliant artists and Weyba is a moody and mysterious place, something I believe comes from a turbulent history.”

The lake was first settled by colonialists in the 1860’s and since then the lake has witnessed many dramatic events.  There was the mass-murder and scattering of the local indigenous peoples, the devastation of its Koala population by poachers, and overfishing by people with commercial licences.  But it has also seen a succession of characters that have made their homes on its shores and cherished and respected the lake as it deserves.  Its people like these that are now fighting to save precious Lake Weyba from a massive urban development that will be catastrophic to the lake’s fragile ecosystem and one of Australia’s most beautiful panoramas. The proposed development Noosa on Weyba is the size of a small town and will diminish the abundance of bird and animal wildlife that makes the lake so special.  It will also put many endangered species further at risk and all by a developer renowned for doing dirty business and using quick cash tactics.  To register your protest against this inappropriate development go to friendsoflakeweyba.org. (text Bianca Tainsh)

As part of the Spinnerei Rundgang Bianca will be exhibiting a video and sculpture installation with a collection of prints, and for animal lovers The Weyba List of Species in a rare art book form.  To view Bianca’s exhibition go to Level 4, Halle 14 during the Spinnerei Rundgang Gallery Tour, 21./22. Sept. 2013. Sa: 11-21 h, So: 11-18 h.