The remaking of things

Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
NGV commission for Melbourne Now 2023
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
Friday 24th March – (extended to) Sunday 3rd September, 2023

Things draw to a close, and so follows our paper forest. Come the end of the week, The remaking of things, a work commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria for Melbourne Now, will up sticks and fold wings. It has been a glorious run! We have enjoyed ducking into the space and seeing people create their own habitats for the Grey-headed flying fox pair, and hearing what you think of the work. It has been a luminous joy, and we look forward to making something else like this to share with you all one day soon.

If you happen to live nearby, and have a moment between MIFF sessions and consuming stuff of life and work, Melbourne Now runs until Sunday the 20th August*, 2023. Perhaps we’ll chance upon you there, as the frogs’ croak TIME!

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
Fed Square, Melbourne
Entry to NGV Australia is free
Open daily, 10am–5pm

Slide into the forest, from the comfort of your screen,
The remaking of things
Explore all 100 works from the NGV collection

It is only fitting that recent pictures from The remaking of things should feature alongside Tinka’s return to the Grey-headed flying fox colony at Yarra Bend. After coming into care on the 18th of June, when she collided with a balcony at the QV on a windy night, after recuperating at Bat Rescue Bayside, she was released on a clear winter’s day. You could feel she was thrilled to be home and she flew straight to the tall trees in which many other Grey-headed flying foxes were roosting. Back where she belongs and we couldn’t be happier for her. She did it!

* Extended to Sunday the 3rd of September, 2023!

In addition to this forest for the Grey-headed flying fox, both real and imagined, you can see the first two pups we cared for, Remy and Pip, etched to life, from memory, at the Australian Print Workshop as part of their 40 artists for 40 years anniversary celebrations.

40x40 runs until Saturday the 26th August, 2023.

Australian Print Workshop
210 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm

When we were drawing on the plate, last year, we knew that this would be printed à la poupée by Martin King, and later hand-coloured by us, so we made room for these techniques from the outset. We left space for a wash of pale-pink blossoms, and the transition between the colours on Remy and Pip and their environment. As with French Connections (2018–2019), it was a brilliant opportunity to learn more and a terrific challenge.

We were humbled to be featured in The Two of Us, in The Good Weekend. If you missed the print copy you can read online.

‘We’re so intermeshed’: The art of sharing clothes, shoes — and even a phone
Artists Louise Jennison and Gracia Haby, both 47, share everything: their art making, their wildlife foster care, even their shoes and mobile phones. In fact, they’ve rarely spent a day apart in 24 years.

Artists Louise Jennison and Gracia Haby, both 47, who are also wildlife foster carers, share everything: ⁠
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"We finish each other’s sentences,” says Gracia. ⁠
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“We share the same Instagram account, the same shoes. We share clothes and have similar tastes, except Louise wears dresses and you’ll never see me in a dress. She loves the freedom of a dress but, to me, a dress is the complete opposite. We have one mobile phone, partly for financial reasons so we could get a good one for our work, but also it just makes sense because we’re nearly always together.”
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In fact, they’ve rarely spent a day apart in 24 years. ⁠
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Story: Melissa Fyfe⁠
27th of July, 2023
This story is part of the 29th of July edition of Good Weekend

Thank-you everyone for your overwhelmingly lovely support. We so appreciate all your beautiful comments and messages. We laid ourselves bare for this interview process, for the love of Grey-headed flying foxes, and it was worth it. Thank-you.

Image credit: Installation view of Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison’s The remaking of things, 2023, on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24th March – 20th August, 2023. Photograph by Sean Fennessy.