WINDOW ROOM :
PAMELA RATAJ
Exhibition dates. 3 June - 15 June 2025
Opening Reception : Wed 4 June 2025, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Castor and Pollux
Castor and Pollux are twins, one mortal, the other immortal. They cannot bear to be separated, so live half their lives on earth, half in the Underworld of the dead. In Greek mythology they personify the riddle of duality: the interweaving of absence and presence, intellect and intuition, of the tangible and intangible.
The work Castor and Pollux explores this duality and the potential to merge and connect.
I'm fascinated by the qualities inherent in materials, and by the way they resonate when used together.
I found the coal used in this piece in Eastern Victoria, where coal deposits are estimated to be 1.6 million years old. Washed up by the tides on certain beaches there it suggests the ineffable co-existence of past and present time, and the potential for transformation and return.
Pamela Rataj was born in Germany and educated in Australia, France and Germany. She now lives and works in Melbourne. Her practice includes sculpture, painting and installation. Rataj has collaborated with composers and performance artists in creating ephemeral installations for public spaces, performed in the Adelaide Festival of Arts and public events in Melbourne, Paris and Stuttgart. Rataj has received Cultural and Project Development Grants in Victoria and South Australia, and completed Residencies in Paris, New York and the Ruhr region, Germany. She has been finalist in numerous national prizes including the Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award (2013), Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition and Awards (2016), the Wyndham Art Prize (2017, 2018), and the Fisher's Ghost Award (2021). Rataj has exhibited in galleries in Adelaide, Melbourne and Paris, and her work is represented in Artbank and in private and corporate collections in Australia and internationally.
Castor and Pollux_coal, glass, leather, plexiglass, wax, wire_190x39x39cm
NFS