FIVE INK

Nicole Henry
Pamela Manning
Giancarlo Savaris
Ann Widdup
Claire Young

OPENING EVENT: 5 June 6–8pm
ON VIEW: 5–28 June
GALLERY HOURS: Fri–Sun 11–4pm

Feels like End Times  - But We’re Still Printing showcases the reaction of the five Canberra printmakers of Five Ink to the chaotic world we live in today. On one hand that response is to protest or lament changes that feel like the end of times. It includes prints related to climate change, Antarctic warming, nuclear fears and cynicism about local politics. In this Five Ink draws on printmaking’s long history of engagement with politics and international events.

This exhibition celebrates the natural world and conveys the joy, humour and beauty of the everyday and the personal even in uncertain times. Elements such as repetitive marks, pop art humour, a certain surrealism, and layering of images combine to create patterns and prints relevant to the current moment, through screen printing, etching, photogravure and natural dye printing.

Five Ink use their experience and willingness to experiment with different printmaking techniques to find a fresh take on age-old issues such as war and human folly, with echoes of Magritte, Dadaism and the 1980s Canberra poster movement, while their positive images remain refreshingly grounded in the local and the now.

 Nicole Henry, Pamela Manning, Giancarlo Savaris, Ann Widdup and Claire Young are the printmakers of Canberra group Five Ink. They have met over years to print together, sharing serious times and daily life events and discussing the world in the process.  Their themes range through politics, memory and joy, while investigating the possibilities of printmaking.

Images:
Nicole Henry, Silver Service Blue, 2025, Photogravure, 370x260mm. Image courtesy ANCA Gallery.