Seahorses, chariots and making memories

Mikala Dwyer among holograms in her exhibition

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Seahorses, chariots and making memories

10 March 2023

Exhibition explores the many worlds of the hippocampus

New works from renowned Australian artist Mikala Dwyer meld with antiquities in a Chau Chak Wing Museum exhibition examining the vulnerability of species, memory and Greek mythology.

Art works in Mikala Dwyer's Penelope and the Seahorse exhibtion — Works by Mikala Dwyer from left: *Penelope, Hotel Seahorse* and *Holohorses.*

Featuring sculpture, painting, video and audio works, Mikala Dwyer鈥檚 Penelope and the Seahorse explores the word hippocampus and its various meanings.听

Dwyer is a听one of Australia鈥檚 most significant innovators in sculpture, performance and installation, with a long association with the University of Sydney. She has exhibited since 1982, with solo shows at Sydney鈥檚 Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Gallery of NSW and in galleries across Europe. Dwyer has regularly featured in the Sydney Biennale and her work is held in prominent public art collections across Australia and New Zealand. A graduate of the University, she taught at the Sydney College of the Arts for 20 years.听

During her time at the University, Dwyer developed a familiarity with its extensive museum collections and their 鈥淎laddin鈥檚 cave of possibilities鈥�. Penelope and the Seahorse is the fourth contemporary art project in the museum鈥檚 Penelope Gallery; the gallery鈥檚 ongoing series invites artists to create new works inspired by, or incorporating, museum objects.

The impetus for Penelope and the Seahorse was a fascination with the seahorse and University of Sydney research into this biologically unique species.听

鈥淭he more you think about them the stranger they are,鈥� said Dwyer. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e magical creatures with such symbolic resonance.鈥�

Thoughts of the seahorse turned to the origins of the word hippocampus. First used to describe the equine creature that pulled Poseidon鈥檚 chariot in Greek mythology, hippocampus was adopted centuries later to describe the seahorse genus and the S-shaped brain structures responsible for creating memories.听

鈥淭hat created another rabbit hole into neuropsychology which I鈥檓 still tumbling down,鈥� said Dwyer.听

Penelope and the Seahorse considers the unreliability of history as a collective memory, said Dwyer. Without being didactic, she offers a window into future memories and what humanity stands to lose.听

鈥淚鈥檇 like us to remember we鈥檙e not separate from the natural world, so maybe we should take care of it,鈥� Dwyer said.听

The exhibition鈥檚 name pays homage to the gallery鈥檚 eponymous Penelope Seidler. It is also a reference to the Greek goddess Penelope who unravelled her weavings every night while waiting for husband Odysseus鈥檚 return home.听

Etruscan and Greek urns and coins from the museum鈥檚 Nicholson Collection of antiquities feature in the exhibition. Also included are video and sound collaborations with animator Gina Moore and composer James Hayes.听

Penelope and the Seahorse builds on Dwyer鈥檚 reputation for creating installations that question the conceit of humanity鈥檚 reasoning over the non-human world, said Michael Dagostino, Director of Museums and Cultural Engagement at the University of Sydney.

鈥淲e鈥檙e so excited to once again use the museum and its vast collections as a launching pad for new works by another great Australian artist,鈥� Mr Dagostino said.

Mikala Dwyer is Professor at RMIT鈥檚 School of Art.听

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