Q&A: Riste Andrievski on Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra

Riste Andrievski is a printmaker, photographer, and can now officially call himself a curator, with Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra opening at Wollongong Art Gallery in March 2024.

Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra brings together 13 contemporary artists who share a connection to the region and features their unique perspectives on the local landscape.

This exhibition features more than 50 works from artists Riste Andrievski, Suzanne Archer, Sophie Cape, Elisabeth Cummings, Warwick Keen, Steve Lopes, Jo Lyons, Euan Macleod, Noel McKenna, Reg Mombassa, Idris Murphy, Lucy O’Doherty and Amanda Penrose Hart.

We asked Riste about his experience, the exhibition, and his love of local landscape.

Image:  Installation view of Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra, Wollongong Art Gallery, 2024.

We know you primarily as an artist and more specifically as a photographer. What has this new experience of curating been like for you?

Well basically yes, this has been the first show that I have officially curated. It is a big show with big names. To be honest, I did not really approach it as if I were 'curating' an exhibition. I looked at the project more through a lens so to speak… well with the view of capturing the local landscape.

Over two years, I worked with the artists involved in the exhibition. I took them each to various places and asked them to respond to their location. I wanted to know how they personally experienced the place and allowed them scope to 'feel' into it and to create their own visions and expectations of what the show would be like.

I personally think all artists are curators. We are constantly curating our own work. For me, the curatorial role for this show came when I was hanging the works in the gallery space with Louise Brand and the rest of the Gallery team. When we were considering all the images and the grouping of the artworks, particularly when we were thinking about how the works in the exhibition were talking or responding to each other. I think really, the original idea and the complete process was quite spontaneous, and it developed and came together in a really organic way.

It's interesting that an exhibition about local landscape comes together in what you consider an organic way. Is there some background information you can give us?

The original idea for Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra grew out of my last solo exhibition that I had at Wollongong Art Gallery in 2019 called A Place to Call Home. I had been looking at migration and the landscape and how they both impacted on my life. Specifically looking at the industrial landscape around Cringila and Port Kembla and how that became a big part of my identity.

In many ways, this latest show grew from my experiences with that exhibition and from talking to other artists about it. I started to think about how others related to the landscape - visually and verbally. Even the title - Landscape Tell the Way - only came towards the end, while working with Jo Lyons and her poems and putting the catalogue together. The idea was not constructed - it simply developed.

The artists were invited to stay as an 'Artist in Residence’ at Wollongong Art Gallery, usually for a week or two and then they would spend time every day in their assigned landscape. While most of the artists either worked en plein air and/or documented their location, most of the works were then completed either on site or back in the artist’s studios.

All the artists had different prior connections or experiences of the Illawarra. Reg Mombassa was familiar with it, as was Suzanne Archer who continued developing the work and then went on to have another successful major show at Orange Regional Gallery, featuring many works created in response to her time in the Illawarra. The experience rekindled her excitement, joy, and a re-connection to our local area.

Other artists like Amanda Penrose Hart were not previously familiar - but then they too went on to develop a special relationship with the region through their art practice. Everything is in a way, interconnected. Another example of this is the work produced by Steve Lopes which centers on Kiama Blow Hole, and cross references three generations and their relationship to fishing and the location. It is about Steve’s Sicilian father passing on skills and heritage to his son, who in turn passes them onto his own children. While Jo Lyons' poems are about her own childhood dreams and connection to Figtree, they also include writing about me and the location in which I grew up - which was starkly different.

Image:  Installation view of Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra, Wollongong Art Gallery, 2024.

How did collaboration with such high-profile artists come about?

Well, I already knew them because I had been working on a project where I have been taking photographic portraits of contemporary artists. Essentially it is a 'portrait landscape' of one hundred artists and will be published as a book. While undertaking this work I was also considering their creative process and their studio spaces. I got to know them better, and I started to reflect more on the nature of personalised landscapes, well to reflect more on this idea and that process was quite special.

What has it been like since the exhibition officially opened? What kind of feedback have you been getting? We know you pop into the Gallery sometimes. What has this experience been like for you?

I like to come in when I have an opportunity, and to talk to the Gallery team and get their feedback. It is interesting to hear what they share with me about people’s response to the show and to know how many people have said they have seen the exhibition as a gift, which has then been given back to the Illawarra.

I also like to observe how the audience directly responds to the exhibition. Just watching how people engage with the work offers me a different perspective and at times it feels almost 'surreal'. So, yes, it is nice to visit the Gallery, re-experience the exhibition and gain more insight. Sometimes I will approach visitors and have a conversation with them. Some people have sent some lovely correspondence too, congratulating me and thanking me for putting the show together.

Image:  Installation view of Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra, Wollongong Art Gallery, 2024.

Where to from here?

I am working on other projects! But they will have to remain a bit of a mystery at this point. I can tell you though, they involve a photography project with images I have taken in the US and in Death Valley.

I am working towards a solo show, and there is another exhibition that I will be curating for another project too. It really is quite fantastic, and it is with a prominent Australian artist, whose work I really do admire. Oh, yes… there is also another landscape exhibition planned for another regional gallery.

Image:  Installation view of works by Reg Mombassa in Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra, Wollongong Art Gallery, 2024.

We would like to thank curator Riste Andrievski for discussing Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra with us.