Torrent Blossom
Torrent Blossom is an online exhibition centring artists and writers whose practices challenge the colonial state of Australia.
From turbulent waves of social, cultural, political and environmental upheaval, it emerges, bathed, in the digital blue glow of our shared captivity and consciousness. Curated by Firstdraft and supported by the City of Sydney, Torrent Blossom brings together a selection of new and existing video artworks, presented in dialogue with newly commissioned critical and poetic texts.
Amala Groom
The Union
2019
Appropriating Eastern and Western religious symbology and iconography, The Union (2019) explores the thematics of balancing diametrically opposing ontologies as the living embodiment of the Aboriginal experience.
The Union seeks to embrace the commitment to the self as the epitome of relationship, of spiritual enlightenment and the foundation of connection to Land, Language, Lore and Custom.
In the sharing of foundational cultural principles, humanity is understood by the artist as a collective of finely tuned instruments of Bayaami (Wiradyuri creator spirit). The artist seeks to rekindle that relationship with the audience, as an etheric and poignant reminder that when we are in union with ourselves and with our spirit, we are at one with all of Bayaami’s creatures.
As an expression of living across multiple ontologies, The Union seeks to expand upon these notions to encompass further parallels of inter-dimensional experience, living in between the physical world and the other world (astral).
By no coincidence this developing body of work is also an exploration of the artist’s search for the meaning of her own existence, acting as a microcosm of the human experience and as reflected in her birth name, Amala.
With multiple meanings across numerous languages and cultures, The Union acts as the eternal search for the unsullied consciousness (Buddhist text), of one who is pure (Sanskrit), one who is beloved (Arabic), of the practice (Hindi) to love her (Italian), ourselves and each other; to exist in the ultimate union offered to us if we seek to journey for it.
The Union… seeks to embrace the commitment to the self as the epitome of relationship; of spiritual enlightenment and of the foundation of connection to Land, Language, Lore and Custom.
Amala Groom
Amala Groom, The Union, 2019, 4K UHD video, colour, sound, 11 minutes 11 seconds. Commissioned by Carriageworks for The National 2019: New Australian Art. Courtesy the artist
Commissioned by Carriageworks for The National 2019: New Australian Art, curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham
Director of Photography: Dale Collier
Costume: Kristine Townsend
Sound Design: Dale Collier
Additional Audio Recordings: Billy McPherson and Stu Hunter, The Habitat Studio, Sydney
Artist Assistant: Kristine Townsend
Artist Development: Time Place Space NOMAD 2018: Arts House, Melbourne.
The artist thanks Coby Edgar and the Southlands Emerging Art Award.
