The Courier obtained a walkthrough of the final preparations for the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s major exhibition Romancing the Skull, which opens this Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Works exploring the themes of death, science and medicine, pirates and other ‘roguish tattooed characters’, memento mori, and Dia de los Muertos are being prepared and hung throughout the bottom floor of the gallery, including a full wall mural created specifically for the show by artist Reko Rennie.
Gallery curator Julie McLaren says the core of the exhibition will be skulls and skeletons as they are featured in Australian contemporary art, but the exhibition will also take sideways glances at historic imagery.
“The skull has always been an iconic symbol, and it is frequently featured in art, Ms McLaren said.
“This tribute to the skull puts the question, ‘why has it been so fascinating for so long to so many people?’”
