For all sorts of reasons, mostly to do with geography or serendipity (or the lack of it), I had never seen enough work by Kirsten Coelho. I’d encountered two or three pots at the homes of friends, occasional pieces in museums, but never enough to know it really well. Even a visit in early 2015 to Coelho’s studio, out in Adelaide’s northwest near the Port, left a feeling of unfinished business. The work was still on the periphery of my vision, persistent, but somehow elusive. I knew I hadn’t come to grips with it, not yet.
Then came In the Falling Light, Coelho’s solo exhibition in Canberra last July, at the ANU’s Drill Hall Gallery…
Renowned Australian writer and curator Julie Ewington uses her wordsmithing craft to explore the many layers of meaning that give Kirsten Coelho’s humble vessel such depth and energy. This essay is now available to free here.
