http://tarynraffan.com/collaboration-michelle-heldon daily 0.75 2024-11-25 http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works1 daily 0.75 2024-11-25 http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works1/blog-post-title-one-endnc monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works1/blog-post-title-two-f6zng monthly 0.5 2020-05-19 http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works1/blog-post-title-three-l99xn monthly 0.5 2020-05-19 http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works1/blog-post-title-four-pew3h monthly 0.5 2020-05-19 http://tarynraffan.com/curriculum-vitae daily 0.75 2024-11-25 http://tarynraffan.com/bio daily 0.75 2024-11-25 http://tarynraffan.com/about daily 0.75 2022-05-18 http://tarynraffan.com/contactnew daily 0.75 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5074801ae4b0933ed3d9d554/1351011250621-WZKTU23DOFDC7HRC4YWR/hudson-map.jpg Contact - Transient http://tarynraffan.com/updated-website daily 1.0 2024-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580904859429-NUVSM7TKJZ2DDBR9X2OA/step11_c.jpg coming soon: updated website https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580904859429-NUVSM7TKJZ2DDBR9X2OA/step11_c.jpg coming soon: updated website http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works daily 0.75 2024-11-25 http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/collaboration-ruthfeeney-c9ryz monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968522380-8UCWRBURJU44I61LOLRV/R0013303.JPG selected works - collaboration/Ruth Feeney unfilled 2009 Installation: collected and dried tea leaves and stencilled floor work, approx. 300cm x 300cm Installation photographs from the exhibition unfilled at The John Paynter Gallery, 2010, © Ruth Feeney https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968597653-CR15B7KXX9VPDZBSBC1Q/Picture+007.jpg selected works - collaboration/Ruth Feeney Exhibition text © Belinda Howden https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968647562-W4LNE7WF019RFPSY0LEY/Picture+018.jpg selected works - collaboration/Ruth Feeney https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968681088-FC116HNABUU0MYPLHIWX/R0013328.jpg selected works - collaboration/Ruth Feeney https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968712389-RFAZU10LK90IM30TE36T/003.jpg selected works - collaboration/Ruth Feeney http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/collaborationmichelle-heldon-pj2kj monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1605782553234-8SRPEZI6V41F3QZRX92B/image-asset.jpeg selected works - collaboration/Michelle Heldon updating content… http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/recent-collaborationrachael-ireland-ym2wt monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449536534958-H5VKX20J044RR2EGO7EK/SR_Frame+2_web.jpg selected works - collaboration/Rachael Ireland fragmentary order (image still) 2015 moving image, dimensions and running times variable In association with Sunsiz Media Residency, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia Collaboration project with friend and fellow artist Rachael Ireland Having both completed fine art studies in Newcastle, NSW Rachael Ireland (BFA hons) and Taryn Raffan (BFA) have developed an ongoing interest together discussing methods of art making and philosophies connected to place, structural and physical awareness. Ireland and Raffan have both undertaken residencies individually in remote locations visiting places such as Hill End, New South Wales; Bruny Island, Tasmania; Argentina and Upernavik, Greenland. Ireland is currently completing a Masters of Art Therapy at Western Sydney University and Raffan is exploring further research in mineralogy and place consciousness. In August 2015 both artists traveled together to Lightning Ridge, NSW to combine practices and ideologies, ellipse: a project between two points at Gaffa Gallery has been part culmination of this shared experience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449572247927-Y1LQCVSFZPRDSRWVA04C/Drive+over06.jpg selected works - collaboration/Rachael Ireland re turning #1 (image still) 2015 moving image, dimensions and running times variable In association with Sunsiz Media Residency, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia Collaboration project with friend and fellow artist Rachael Ireland https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449572261939-RA3Q5NVWP06UDBUQBCE4/Drive+over1.jpg selected works - collaboration/Rachael Ireland defragmenting (image still) 2015   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449572276413-7OJLMROY35XNAZAAN9HP/Drive+over33.jpg selected works - collaboration/Rachael Ireland re turning #2 (image still) 2015   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449572286778-QPIZ9EBV7IT6M71LAVU2/Drive+over18.jpg selected works - collaboration/Rachael Ireland suborbital (image still) 2015 moving image, projection, curtain and sound, approx. 13:00 minutes In association with Sunsiz Media Residency, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia Collaboration project with friend and fellow artist Rachael Ireland http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/just-keep-digging-edxf2 monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969739329-Z3DTJ68YWQGY27DWDGJ6/detail_mult+windows+4.jpg selected works - just keep digging https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969538667-D1BL5A79B3YR4MJBW5QM/wall_mult+windows.jpg selected works - just keep digging - untitled (exposures wall), 2008 (Copy) untitled (exposures wall), 2008 Wall installation of 200 artist proofs: lithographs, solar and zinc plate etchings, van dyke prints and pigment ink on Hahnemühle paper, approximately 10 cm x 15 cm each Installation photographs from exhibition multiple windows at Rouge Gallery, 2008 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969588970-1A1OLQ8YJZ9D17LKVU9N/detail_mult+windows.jpg selected works - just keep digging https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969634621-XKZYHNFKKXJ12T7PZL18/detail_mult+windows+2.jpg selected works - just keep digging https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969668186-V8UPYFM83B462GR2VO12/details_mult+windows+3.jpg selected works - just keep digging http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/impressions-from-planet-earth-m5gah monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969487239-HN6WU30346YJMSW8XH5V/unfilled_all+12.jpg selected works - impressions from planet earth untitled (imprints/unfilled) 2007 series of 24 (12 unfilled), Plaster moulds, resin, pva glue, copper wire, shellac and found objects, approximately 35cm x 45cm each https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969379395-2HOR1LXXXDM7BOO11NN7/install_watt+space.jpg selected works - impressions from planet earth untitled (imprints filled/unfilled) 2007 series of 24 (12 unfilled, 12 filled), Plaster moulds, resin, pva glue, copper wire, shellac and found objects, approximately 35cm x 45cm each Installation photograph from exhibition ... at Watt Space Gallery, 2007 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969507537-Y5P2P1ZADWZ35INFDKA7/filled_all+12.jpg selected works - impressions from planet earth untitled (imprints/filled) 2007 series of 24 (12 filled), Plaster moulds, resin, pva glue, copper wire, shellac and found objects, approximately 35cm x 45cm each Private collection http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/wrapping-in-circles-xftky monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968896009-G22H86CIROVJIJE5UF35/P1010330.jpg selected works - wrapping in circles pieces of sheet 2009 1 of 120 artist proofs, screen printed acrylic paint on Hahnemühle paper and recycled cotton napkin, approximately 60cm x 45cm each https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969055255-UKGKK08GSSW5ZS4KGXR8/P1010322.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles When I grow up I want to be a forester run through the moss on high heels that's what I'll do throwing out a boomerang waiting for it to come back to me When I grow up, Fever Ray, Konichiwa Records, 2009   The lyrics float across the lounge room, unawares of their serendipity. As she stands and wraps her own body in swathes of material, the hypnotic baseline serves as an anchor amid the unsual process; a living mummification, a preservation process of sorts. Swaddling herself in colour and line, she wonders what it is exactly that is being preserved? Tradition? Culture? A system of belief? Simply a moment in time and space? The lines marked across her "dress" mirror the music's rhythms, each echoing the other in their patterns. She inhabits an unfamiliar role, a position of simultaneity where distinctions between creator and producer are blurred. As the cool black paint is traced along the length of her arms, she watches on, both participant and witness. The quiet sting of the white across her forehead builds, a corporeal reminder of the ritual to which she has surrended. The lyrics shaping the air, shape her act; a conflation of ideas, rituals and cultural motifs jostling for space in the same room. The three dollar Spotlight face paint, sheets of cloth vaguely reminiscent of a Kngwarreye painting, the Tim Johnson catalogue opened on page 52, stacked copies of Cabinet, a makeshift headdress waiting to be crowned, serve as port keys within this displaced rite. This ritualistic paraphernalia, laying prone about her feet, serve as testament to her role; she embodies the 'semionaut'. A collector of ideas, an archivist of techniques, and a curator of concepts, she traverses culture rootlessly, picking and choosing, wandering through iconography past and present, building her own native tongue. She becomes the pop-anthropolgist. A living museum. Belinda Howden exhibition text © Belinda Howden https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968803183-M0BQQ1XPFFY6CKZEPMZS/P1010245.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles original pieces of sheet #2 2009 Installation: hand painted acrylic wall work, hand painted recycled bed sheet/dress and stack of rags, approx. 200cm x 300cm Installation photographs from the exhibition kól-la-mul-li-ko totémique (conceal totem) at Newcastle Art Space, 2009   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968952269-LG5MSY9WQZJCLYX6W2DB/P1010326.jpg selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969175380-KI4Z336MTPZZOSHEKDBZ/P1010333.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968747274-N55A6EC922NN06J4VR0B/P1010284.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles untitled (wall work/pieces of sheet) 2009 Installation: hand painted acrylic wall work, approx. 250cm x 200cm Installation photographs from the exhibition kól-la-mul-li-ko totémique (conceal totem) at Newcastle Art Space, 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968989790-A1JE0OO9H55YIFL3TPFQ/P1010329.jpg selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968774187-KACPSR2L1X5D13VKPSTJ/P1010240.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles original pieces of sheet #1 2009 Installation: hand painted acrylic wall work, hand painted recycled bed sheet/dress and stack of rags, approx. 200cm x 300cm Installation photographs from the exhibition kól-la-mul-li-ko totémique (conceal totem) at Newcastle Art Space, 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969268216-3ZDOBAA7TIP9HPAUGJAR/P1010335.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969301134-QOJOO8RXDLAJJH4PH41G/P1010317.jpg selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969093928-C0KEJASBZOHPPVU2NX7K/P1010334.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969207449-2C1AZHYJV9LQ1U2T9J55/P1010319.jpg selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968833912-CH9QO1P2PBZR86G6ONNU/P1010238.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles original pieces of sheet #3 2009 Installation: hand painted acrylic wall work, hand painted recycled bed sheet/dress and stack of rags, approx. 200cm x 300cm Installation photographs from the exhibition kól-la-mul-li-ko totémique (conceal totem) at Newcastle Art Space, 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969234214-9TBCCJJ1RNIHGKWLFO4J/P1010327.jpg selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414969125413-MKTX6367I47P5GEP48W3/P1010324.JPG selected works - wrapping in circles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414968861286-EUD6RS4BUFAN1G9CIQ8S/P1010316.jpg selected works - wrapping in circles http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/cradling-jrfmx monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1368344154827-RK8R4N9YYLL5GP2VU5DY/IMG_0218a.jpg selected works - cradling Grand comforter (black) 2011 2 of 3 (edition 1/3) Recycled brown cardboard and cotton thread, approx. 20cm x 20cm each https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1368343919105-OSJDIMU5AYUCQDV89YTG/IMG_0214.jpg selected works - cradling Endlessly searching the pages of IKEA catalogues (hard copies and online) and redrawing many different options of chairs led Raffan to her work Grand comforter, 2010. Through a process of mimicking, duplicating and inverting these images she ponders and questions her ability to escape the western innate housewife syndrome; having no children, no husband and no home of her own, she questions 'why is she trapped herself?' By completing a series of three colour choices, each with an additional three pattern choices in each, they are presented like beefed up versions of an iPhone's shopping cart, ready to deselect, shuffle and reselect again. Paired with untitled (papoose), 2010, Grand comforter presents the crazed conversation about the ease of online shopping and selecting comfort from your lounge room chair or la-Z-Boy; whilst untitled (papoose), ponders the alternate question of how does one feel long term comfort? Images of being wrapped as a child, tucked away in bed, cuddled by another or even nestled on a soft cushion? The artist pairs the emotive comparison with a now beyond learned, innate behaviour, can we feel comfort without buying?   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1368344407960-V6PNDLHD2RJYXFMVR4RN/IMG_0208.JPG selected works - cradling Grand comforter (white) 2011 1 of 3 (edition 1/3) Recycled brown cardboard and cotton thread, approx. 20cm x 20cm each https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1368343901286-1FLXYBLWS5W8FPEJQSPJ/IMG_0210.jpg selected works - cradling https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1368344365660-84TJS5UT269HW2GQPN6H/IMG_0205.JPG selected works - cradling Grand comforter (coloured) 2011 2 of 3 (edition 1/3) Recycled brown cardboard and cotton thread, approx. 20cm x 20cm each Taryn Raffan is an artist of diverse talent and quirky vision. Her solo exhibition ‘Bundles’ at Podspace is intriguingly wry, and I wonder if it is by accident or design both possibilities are inherent in the work which combines the sculptural and metaphorical potential of brown paper with the ubiquitous imagery of interior advertising. -Una Rey, except from Newcastle Herald, p18, 2011 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1368343887569-CSGCJ6IP67XU1PWSWV83/IMG_0204.jpg selected works - cradling http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/between-the-capes-zjn2f monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427783574438-49QOACVI8JN9KZJ210I2/Necklace+One+018.jpg selected works - between the capes Northern Cape Diamonds, 2012 Necklace from site specific performance: french cotton and found Australian native leaves. Dimensions variable. Northern and Southern Cape Diamonds, 2012 came about after Raffan had spent some time hiking on Bruny Island, Tasmania. A popular destination for avid nature lovers, twitchers and hikers alike, Raffan set out on a series of hikes alone to navigate the north and south sides of the island. Whilst navigating both terrains, two particular hikes stood out, having collected amongst the rocks, shrubs, rain, hail and shine, Raffan started seeking out particular leaves from each trip. Using her own gauge of disconnect to place, she sorted out making adornments of beauty to familiarise herself with her surrounding terrain. Revisiting each hike on numerous occasions, she labelled them the Northern and Southern Capes. It was from this new found philosophy Raffan draws connections between land, home, dis/comfort, instinct, reason, un/discovery, non/invasive, local and foreign. Throughout this journey her work evolves into two hand woven necklaces made from leaves and cotton, which are affiliated; one to the north and the second to the south. After completing the necklaces, Raffan revisits each hike on separate days to perform a releasing ceremony. Sleep, wake, eat, walk, 3 hours in, she leaves a necklace under some rocks in the north, 3 hours out; eat, sleep, wake, eat, walk, 3 hours in, she leaves a necklace draped over some sticks in the south, 3 hours out, eat, sleep. After passing only two avid hikers in the off-season, and a few black snakes on her journey's, her treasures have now been offered back to the land and place. What was once common, decaying and overlooked has now become adorned and solidified in the mind, now, just like diamonds. It is from this performance Raffan has also produced a series of relief prints and 20 hand stitched brown paper leaves, 10 from the north, 10 from the south. In association with the Bruny Island Residency, Tasmania, Australia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414967874382-ST3WDUQU2FXP0DTLJ5V2/IMG_0706.jpg selected works - between the capes cape leaves, 2012 Brown packaging paper, french cotton and silk thread. 20 leaves, approx. 20cm x 10cm each Installation photograph from exhibition suburbanest at Paperplane Gallery, 2012 In association with the Bruny Island Residency, Tasmania, Australia exhibition essay by Peter Johnson, 2012 Upon first seeing Anna Scobie’s Don’t let the grass grow (2012), I had the urge to say “Beetlejuice” three times in quick succession. The neat, striped fence pickets, suspended precariously on their spindly legs, dwarf the house they are meant to protect – keeping in as much as they keep out. Like Tim Burton’s 1988 film, Scobie’s sculptures pull the domestic apart at the seams, revealing the absurdity of our social divisions. Her playful wooden carvings are separated into two camps (the ‘straightie-one-eighties’ and the ‘can’t-change-your-spots’) and evoke children’s toys or oversized chess pieces. The serious business of suburban tribalism, of marking out one’s territory and its people as superior to another, is revealed for what it is – little more than a game. Her sculptures are part of suburbanest, an exhibition of three women artists interrogating what it means to live within a domestic sphere in 2012. The works by Scobie, Ruth Feeney, and Taryn Raffan explore how identity is shaped by ideas of domestic ritual and nest making. However, it is the concept of comfort, of what that constitutes and our means of achieving it, which is perhaps the most revealing. In earlier times, comfort was a gift of the divine. In Greek mythology, the goddesses Hestia was among the first generation of Olympians and the keeper of the hearth – the source of warmth and centre of the home, as well as the site of offerings to all other gods. Now, as with so many other things, comfort has become aspirational and consumable – a state of inert contentment to be achieved not through offering but through purchase. As such, it is a source of some delight that the works in suburbanest offer a way out of this ennui; that they articulate new possible means and meanings of comfort. Feeney’s practice is concerned with the thoughtful arrangement of everyday objects into intricate, inherently temporary, patterns and forms. Previously, she has used gingerbread men, spices, and even plants to construct large circular works – at once mandala and lace doily. Her work here has progressed, yet continues to explore the tension between the spiritual and performative nature of domestic (and so often women’s) labour. In Stock Standard (2011), Feeney has transformed that most disposable and mundane of objects – the plastic shopping bag – into a meditation on colour, ritual, and form. The repetitive and precise action of folding the bags is palpable – the sound of crunching plastic hums under the smooth tessellations. Order is brought to bear to create something truly beautiful and yet, like the domestic worlds and relationships we build, threatens to fall apart and be thrown away at any moment. Raffan’s body of work comes out of a recent residency she undertook on a remote island on the south-eastern coast of Tasmania. Living for a week in a converted shipping container as torrential storms forced themselves through gaps in the unfinished walls, it might seem as far from the comfort of the domestic as possible. And yet, faced with the elements and isolation, Raffan uses found objects from nature to construct a new sense of order and belonging. Recalling the childish instinct to collect shells or other objects of curiosity, Raffan’s works show a deep interest in the relationship between body and nature. Where the modern domestic marks human in and nature out, Raffan seeks to create a new synthesis and more sustainable relationship with our external world – formulating new possibilities for comfort outside of consumer habits and identities. These three artists lay the domestic bare; its rituals and fabrications are picked over, at times playfully, and at others with earnest meditation. Like the care with which we decorate our homes, they reveal a pride in their work and suggest a yearning for something so much more.
 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427784585958-SYUS2INSQND9LP4QEQHP/North+Necklace+Hike+043_web.jpg selected works - between the capes the northern turn, 2012 Site specific performance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427783753947-2LKD923HBPBU6RFW3GCW/Necklace+One+030.jpg selected works - between the capes Northern Cape Diamonds (detail), 2012 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1396803291047-5WU2TLQTPPA2V6X6W77H/IMG_0793.jpg selected works - between the capes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427784703235-VEC2FOVDWIS4QEJM0C0P/North+Necklace+Hike+064_web.jpg selected works - between the capes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1396803217548-NVHNL5I9JPB7EXJCQT6L/IMG_0739.jpg selected works - between the capes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427785013191-NAJWS10Z040ZAVSLKZ2X/South+Necklace+Hike+055_web.jpg selected works - between the capes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1396803964070-516MRUPZFRL89RWT7H5J/IMG_0812.jpg selected works - between the capes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427783673001-VJ0A4XNM2SFO377QWT16/Necklace+One+024.jpg selected works - between the capes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427784783505-TXD7GW6H0LPLBEEP78QW/South+Necklace+Hike+024_web.jpg selected works - between the capes the southern turn, 2012 Site specific performance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1396802990833-51MD4JGPMY6SBXMG6PZX/IMG_0785.jpg selected works - between the capes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427783872334-H6LDF6WTFRSH37G2PXMU/Necklace+Two+001.jpg selected works - between the capes Southern Cape Diamonds, 2012 Necklace from site specific performance: french cotton and found Australian native leaves. Dimensions variable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1414967760672-Z9BVFPH8Z1BAMBZT17V4/2+Taryn+Raffan+-+northern+necklace%3Aleaves+2012.jpg selected works - between the capes - Northern Cape Diamonds (relief), 2012 (Copy) Northern Cape Diamonds (relief), 2012 Lead pencil relief drawing on wall. 50 cm x 30 cm http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/new-gallery-6theg monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571366029-CAHZO1ELLRIC9S74ZFWQ/IMG_1061.jpg selected works - focus Working life tensions 2014 Social practice: pigment, jute and audience participation Completed on residency in Scotland UK, WASPS Artist Studios at the McManus Art Gallery In association with performanceNOW, Generator Projects and Verdant Works, Dundee, Scotland, UK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571108462-8PCXUEQYARXYTN1X6X25/IMG_1174.jpg selected works - focus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571166936-B16U8S3ZML7HJG4EGC9V/IMG_1190.jpg selected works - focus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571343141-WSDP3BHHKHE69AEE44MQ/IMG_1212.jpg selected works - focus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571206201-Y7N01O7ZK4AGCPOEDF75/IMG_1193.jpg selected works - focus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571123993-VZ98U33T72E8Q5MDO64U/IMG_1187.jpg selected works - focus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571287090-BV9600DVNVG07JPLK87K/IMG_1207_2.jpg selected works - focus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571380949-B28Q5Z1QOB1Y1EBN5NEJ/IMG_1211.jpg selected works - focus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449571177440-U868MC1LU13CXW3PROXR/IMG_1192.jpg selected works - focus http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/impressions-from-a-new-world-order-gatdk monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1623231224553-47X6XKWGZH8E976ZQTHR/Flora+1_black.jpg selected works - impressions from a new world order Memory orbs (flora) 2014-2015 1 of 9 (limited edition 2/3), screen print on black Somerset paper, 18cm x 29cm each Developed on artist in residency program with WASPS, The Steeple, Fife, Scotland and in conjunction with Dundee Contemporary Arts https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427281677735-TCU3KT32S146YDS1PCZE/Water+5_black_web.jpg selected works - impressions from a new world order Memory orbs (H2O) 2014-2015 5 of 9 (limited edition 2/3), screen print on black Somerset paper, 18cm x 29cm each https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427281499607-7IG5BW4U7AECS3FGGZCT/Rock+1_black_web.jpg selected works - impressions from a new world order Memory orbs (minerals) 2014-2015 1 of 9 (limited edition 3/3), screen print on black Somerset paper, 18cm x 29cm each http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/from-out-of-nowhere-3ty6k monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427017765072-3RZIDGBMXXZ7C34FM2CP/IMG_2216b.jpg selected works - from out of nowhere orb-lettes (handful collages) 2014-2015 social practice: 10 pairs of screen printed collages with words, approx. 11cm x 13cm each Completed on residency in Scotland UK, WASPS Artist Studios in association with DCA, Dundee Contemporary Arts Print Studio, Dundee, Scotland, UK Private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427020913954-UTSLWMVZ2RJ21IH001LW/IMG_2212b.jpg selected works - from out of nowhere https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427021346973-UBXZCPBX4KTYB7E98285/IMG_2156.JPG selected works - from out of nowhere https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427021478844-TYQNTPN9EF8H11MQ36D1/IMG_2160.jpg selected works - from out of nowhere https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427021209498-APRTVAYSZEP3G1VOX1JB/IMG_2199b.jpg selected works - from out of nowhere https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427021730668-YGEB6A2G0UO9232H33G5/IMG_2169.jpg selected works - from out of nowhere https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427021605564-OYG4X5QEBRQVMGGYRMOK/IMG_2152b.jpg selected works - from out of nowhere https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1427021119601-7J86QXYN1QVRL59VH6RR/IMG_2202b.jpg selected works - from out of nowhere http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/new-gallery-2-cn3pm monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580901120725-SVPWVZ3T3ANN88SPFNS1/IMG_1955_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Oracle (green) 2014-2015 Icelandic, Danish and Scottish wool, cotton, silk and plaster, 20cm x 22cm x 20cm Private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580901643276-XHUQKISC7BDUK8FYH9IH/Screen_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Trade fortunes 2014-2016 sculptures, found objects, wood, plaster and clay, dimensions variable Photo: Kath Fries, Out of Time, AirSpace Projects, 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580903027030-AWX8OQNH4W0UODDTVHF8/Out+of+time_A3.jpg selected works - indistinct Out of time, AirSpace Projects, 2016 catalogue, exhibition essay by Ellen Dahl and drawings by Taryn Raffan, 2016 Something really does happen to people who go north—they become at least aware of the creative opportunity which the physical fact of the country represents and come to measure their own work and life against that rather staggering creative possibility: they become, in effect, philosophers. ‘The Idea of North: An Introduction’ The Glen Gould Reader The renowned Canadian pianist Glenn Gould had a lifelong fascination with the idea of North. The sheer physical profundity of the northern land was for Gould a unique opportunity to observe the concept of solitude. This is not exclusive or prerogative to those who go north, but it does appear that this environment leaves its marks upon those who make the journey. There is consciousness that arises from an engagement with these northern landscapes, a heightened phenomenological spatial awareness of one’s own body in space—often inducing an enhanced perception of nature, with all its transcendent otherness. Kant famously ruled that ‘it is the disposition of soul evoked by a particular representation engaging the attention of the reflective judgement, and not the Object, that is called sublime’. There is a long held belief amongst northerners that life-wisdom is not found in social interaction or cultural centres, but rather in solitary confrontation with nature at its most extreme. It is amongst nature that one must seek true self.

The Nordic countries are as geographically remote and topographically as different as can be to Australia. There is a Lutheran sensibility that lives in these northern lands, where historically nature dictates the terms of human existence and creates a dependence on the surrounding environment. This connection to place and the landscape is an important marker of a Nordic identity. Modern Nordic societies might be changing, but nature still has a constant presence in their various national psyches. Nature is for these people what cultural historian Nina Witoszek calls a ‘perpetuum mobile’—a semiotic centre around which everything moves. 

We speak of the four seasons, yet in the north one tends to speak of only two. Summer and winter. The rest is morphological/transitional in-between time. There is a sense of deep mourning as autumn descends, a prelude to what for some seems like a long, bleak and foreboding time ahead, filled with melancholy and isolation. Yet, formany, this dark time is a period for self-reflection and askesis. An embedded belief that the light must be balanced with the dark to truly understand one self.

This darkened temporal - Out of Time - space frequently destabilizes visual perception, blurring the lines between the real and the imagined. As darkness descends on the land, new shapes appear in the shadows. Winter takes hold. A diffused whiteness that blends one thing into another – the sky becomes part of the ocean and it all becomes part of the weather. This distorted, yet hyper-real state of being, provokes a subconscious connection to nature and the landscape around. The great forests with the deep lakes, windswept rugged coastlines, and tall mountains filled with waterfalls and rivers, are traditional places, often depicted in the rural Nordic folk culture, believed to be home to subterranean supernatural forces. In Norwegian Folktales, Pat Shaw recounts Erik Werenskiold’s description of his childhood home: One sat in the darkness by the oven door … from the time of the tallow candle and the rush light … in the never-ending, lonely winter evenings, where folk still saw trolls and captured the sea-serpent, and swore that it was true. But with spring comes the longed for release from the darkness, and as winter slowly dissolves, the mood lifts and all the senses are filled with the prospect of endless summer days. The Swedish writer August Strindberg once declared that summer is the season when ‘in all the countries in the North, the earth is a bridge and the ground is full of gladness’. This light-dark dichotomy, with all its atmospheric conditions generates an environment that provokes us to ask: how do you feel the weather, the landscape or a place? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580899972301-27H3Q5K3OA2C7SZAR089/IMG_1938_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Oracle (red) (detail) 2014-2015 Icelandic, Danish and Scottish wool, cotton, silk and plaster, 36cm x 30cm x 20cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580902373737-NAM75AKOMB02YL0KX4V1/IMG_1995_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Oracle (brown) 2014-2015 Icelandic, Danish and Scottish wool, cotton, silk and plaster, 12cm x 24cm x 16cm Private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580899987873-VJRGQ1XGIIIVG1SIRTDG/IMG_1980_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Oracle (yellow) (detail) 2014-2015 Icelandic, Danish and Scottish wool, cotton, silk and plaster, 10cm x 18cm x 21cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580900074413-CC2MHH6A6G9K5OCJ9WJI/IMG_1900_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Oracle (red) 2014-2015 Icelandic, Danish and Scottish wool, cotton, silk and plaster, 36cm x 30cm x 20cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580900045612-W19ZR6IT6PO10OXGN9KP/IMG_1947_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Oracle (green) 2014-2015 Icelandic, Danish and Scottish wool, cotton, silk and plaster, 20cm x 22cm x 20cm Private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580903040282-2PCSSQ8CM04TDME34B4C/Out+of+time_A3_2.jpg selected works - indistinct Out of time, AirSpace Projects, 2016 catalogue, exhibition foreword Kath Fries and Taryn Raffan Out of time features work by Michelle Heldon, Taryn Raffan and Kath Fries, from their recent residencies in Greenland, Iceland and Finland. The terrains of these Nordic countries continue to resound with narratives, mysterious secrets and silences, gifts and perils of frozen and forested landscapes, which are also the background to and the source of most European fairytales. Out of time traces individual personal engagements with specific locations, featuring works that range from drawings and sculptures to videos, photographs and installations. Each artist’s practice resonates with storytelling traditions, exploring complex interconnections rather than didactic linear descriptions. Together they convey felt experiences and responses to the pull of the magical, inner power of the landscapes, icebergs, forests, lava fields and cultures of the far north. Out of time reaffirms the fairytale location of timeless – set in a ‘once upon a time’ epoch, not fixed historically but rather reinterpreted constantly. The term fairytale invites an engagement with mythical realms or parallel universes; and as it opens up collective, shared and personal imaginative spaces, so that a new folklore emerges, full of the potential for encountering the magical and believing in the unknown and unexplainable. Now, on the other side of the world, the question arises – how do these experiences, artworks and narratives translate back home in Australia? Such frozen fairytales may initially seem out of place, as well as out of time, here. Yet in between these vast, isolated landscapes lies a common denominator for these artists, an innate human desire to connect to land, spirit and folklore. Bridging an age-old instinct to wander; to experience seasons and environments; and to relate their surreal findings back to the familiar, their stories are transported, blended, reconstructed and adapted into contemporary understandings of existence and open-ended imaginations. Michelle Heldon’s videos of melting snowballs and handmade micro-icebergs conjure an embodied engagement with time and narrative traditions. In Greenland she investigated water as a changing modality to express transition, conveying echoes of Inuit Shamanic beliefs in spirits within nature and hints at a secret language for transition into other realms. Taryn Raffan’s drawings of spirit faces similarly consider the transformations, both perceived and experienced, during her residency in Iceland. Her sculptural series also reflect how components of the self evolve when affected by the landscape; and how one can feel present within vastness yet also connected to indistinct imaginations, paralleling how fairytales and folklore deconstruct this process into a character format. Kath Fries’ installations and photographs explore renditions of the Finish wild forest within the sheltered, protected internal spaces of buildings. These works consider the permeability of our constructed boundaries as physical walls become enchanted when fiction merges with reality. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1580899886077-SARB4AXDB24HOUCSHBFZ/IMG_1987_b.jpg selected works - indistinct Oracle (yellow) 2014-2015 Icelandic, Danish and Scottish wool, cotton, silk and plaster, 10cm x 18cm x 21cm http://tarynraffan.com/selected-works/intruder-e2rck monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449532915517-M2LLENOKXT5XK3JTM6RZ/Collage+8_small.jpg selected works - Intruder intruder (scout and hold) 2015 7/8 photo collages (edition of 2) on 35mm colour reversal film with plastic slide mounts and slide viewer, approx. 15cm x 15cm x 20cm In association with Sunsiz Media Residency, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449537834443-S5FC1F1UPNSBLULMWI3Q/IMG_8420_web.jpg selected works - Intruder intruder (scout and hold) 2015 8 photo collages (edition of 2) on 35mm colour reversal film with plastic slide mounts, slide viewer and sandstone, dimensions variable ellipse: a project between two points is a mapping of the rhythm and trajectory of conversations and creative exploration circulating between two people. Propelled by a searching spirit this project revolves around enquiry into binaries of substance, space and time. It is a philosophical and physical excavation into internal and external landscapes, and an encounter with the darkness and light that permeate these spaces. artist statement for exhibition ellipse Installation photograph from exhibition ellipse: a project between two points at Gaffa Gallery, 2015 In association with Sunsiz Media Residency, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449532840050-4XZ62Z2PZ56APAKLYAKJ/Collage+1_small.jpg selected works - Intruder intruder (scout and hold) 2015 1/8 photo collages (edition of 2) on 35mm colour reversal film with plastic slide mounts and slide viewer, approx. 15cm x 15cm x 20cm   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449536110961-6DY5LBX27UTC8PHYC3VL/fuse+and+splinter+1.jpg selected works - Intruder fuse and splinter #1 2015 resin, pigment and plaster, approx. 35cm x 20cm x 20cm Installation photograph from exhibition ellipse: a project between two points at Gaffa Gallery, 2015 In association with Sunsiz Media Residency, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia Private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449536962650-I43IIZTGYFUO3KXQNN9Z/Collage+7_web.jpg selected works - Intruder intruder (scout and hold) 2015 6/8 photo collages (edition of 2) on 35mm colour reversal film with plastic slide mounts and slide viewer, approx. 15cm x 15cm x 20cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518f3193e4b0829608ea8d72/1449536147170-Z1VATC3MND1L604H2W9V/fuse+and+splinter+2.jpg selected works - Intruder fuse and splinter #2 2015 resin, pigment and plaster, approx. 35cm x 20cm x 20cm Installation photograph from exhibition ellipse: a project between two points at Gaffa Gallery, 2015 In association with Sunsiz Media Residency, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia