Looking closer, thinking deeper

This semester, our year 11 Art students have taken a deep dive into the diverse, challenging and often thought-provoking world of Contemporary Art.

Across the semester, students explored the practices of seven significant contemporary artists:
✨ Yayoi Kusama
✨ Marina Abramović
✨ Ai Weiwei
✨ Archie Moore
✨ Clara Adolphs
✨ Aretha Brown
✨ Louise Bourgeois

Rather than simply looking at artworks, students investigated the ideas, themes, materials, techniques and visual languages behind each artist’s practice. They considered how artists respond to their social, cultural, historical and personal contexts, while developing their own creative responses inspired by the artists they studied.

A key part of the unit was strengthening students’ ability to think and talk about art using the DAIE model — Describe, Analyse, Interpret and Evaluate. Through this process, students have been challenged to look beyond “I like it” and “I don’t like it” and instead develop informed, thoughtful and critical responses to contemporary art.

The semester has also provided opportunities to explore powerful ideas around identity, memory, activism, feminism, culture, place, trauma, connection and personal experience — demonstrating just how relevant contemporary art can be to the world around us.

We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Yayoi Kusama after studying her work this semester. It was a poignant opportunity for our students to reflect on her extraordinary contribution to contemporary art and the lasting legacy of her distinctive creative practice.

Our year 11 students have approached this unit with curiosity, creativity and an increasing confidence in their ability to look closely, think deeply and make meaning through art.