Boxing Day

An exhibition of paintings by artist and tsunami survivor Fleur Childs

Boxing Day is an exhibition of large-scale canvases by emerging Australian artist Fleur Childs. It is the result of an investigation into her relationship with water - a relationship that became profoundly complicated on Boxing Day, 2004.

Childs was staying at Arugam Bay, a remote beach community on the east coast of Sri Lanka, when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck. She and her husband were fortunate to survive the wave and the ordeal that followed. With the works that make up Boxing Day, Childs attempts to reinterpret and reshape the traumatic experience. In her self-portraits, the event is both depicted and re-imagined.

The works are a generous act of sharing and the end result of an obviously cathartic art- making process. Boxing Day communicates a personal experience of riding the wave that killed over 200,000 people.

(All paintings are untitled, oil on canvas, copyright Fleur Childs 2006)

Venue: blank_space gallery

Address: 374 Crown St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Date:  26 October- 1 November 2006

Links: coolhunting.com  lostineminor.com

Tsunami story written by Fleur’s husband Alex Bodman

Opening Night Photos


CV 
2008/2009 – Solo Painting Exhibition: “The Girls” at Java Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
2007 – Group Exhibition: “Mean Rup Mean Tuk” (With a Body Comes Suffering), Department of Plastic Arts 	Ministry of Culture Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2006 – Solo Painting Exhibition: “Boxing Day” at Blank Space Gallery, Sydney. 	A series of self-portraits inspired by surviving the 2005 Tsunami in Sri Lanka.
2004 – Solo Painting exhibition at The Fremantle Arts Centre,  Fremantle, West Australia. 	A series of painting inspired by textile  prints on vintage clothes.
2003 – Short Film: Director, co-producer of “A Sari Tale”, sponsored by MetroScreen, Sydney.
2002 - Auburn International Youth Film Festival, “Elite Soldiers Kill Their Wives”, Sydney,
2002 - Short videos screened at Sydney’s Chauvel Cinema, Sydney.
2001 – Principal Artist for the “Uglieland Festival” in West Australia.
2000 - Freelance Illustrator. Storyboarding the ABC/BBC Millennium broadcast. West Australia.
Education 
2002 - Bachelor of Fine Arts. The College of Fine Arts (University of New South Wales) Sydney, Australia
2005 - Certificate 4, Solo Documentary – Metro Screen. Sydney Australia.
You can contact Fleur at fleur.childs@gmail.com
(The above photographic portrait of Fleur was taken by Cybele Malinoski)

CV

2008/2009 – Solo Painting Exhibition: “The Girls” at Java Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

2007 – Group Exhibition: “Mean Rup Mean Tuk” (With a Body Comes Suffering), Department of Plastic Arts Ministry of Culture Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2006 – Solo Painting Exhibition: “Boxing Day” at Blank Space Gallery, Sydney. A series of self-portraits inspired by surviving the 2005 Tsunami in Sri Lanka.

2004 – Solo Painting exhibition at The Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, West Australia. A series of painting inspired by textile prints on vintage clothes.

2003 – Short Film: Director, co-producer of “A Sari Tale”, sponsored by MetroScreen, Sydney.

2002 - Auburn International Youth Film Festival, “Elite Soldiers Kill Their Wives”, Sydney,

2002 - Short videos screened at Sydney’s Chauvel Cinema, Sydney.

2001 – Principal Artist for the “Uglieland Festival” in West Australia.

2000 - Freelance Illustrator. Storyboarding the ABC/BBC Millennium broadcast. West Australia.

Education

2002 - Bachelor of Fine Arts. The College of Fine Arts (University of New South Wales) Sydney, Australia

2005 - Certificate 4, Solo Documentary – Metro Screen. Sydney Australia.

You can contact Fleur at fleur.childs@gmail.com

(The above photographic portrait of Fleur was taken by Cybele Malinoski)

Mean Rup Mean Tuk

2007 – Group Exhibition: (With a Body Comes Suffering), Department of Plastic Arts Ministry of Culture Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Triptych, oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm, copyright Fleur Childs 2007