Tim Selwyn
9th March 2020 - 5th June 2020
Tim Selwyn is a Central Coast based sculptor of Aboriginal descent.
His exhibition is a result of the work that he has created during his artist residency at La Crème during the last few months - the months of Covid-19. It has been a time where we are reminded unequivocally of our shared human experience, where the tiniest of organisms, a virus, has shown us that we are all vulnerable… and resilient.
“If we strip it back to one human race - we all bleed red. These shields represent a safe space that we can step into with different languages, different beliefs and different thought patterns and still come together and share and work in collaboration. Moving forward together under the protection of a common shield”.
Tim Selwyn
Marga Dhurany Magaa (Shield Ironbark Tree - Wiradjuri Language)
Tim Selwyn's work includes a wide range of handcrafted tools and sculptures, but it is the shields that epitomise the sentiment behind the whole body of work.
“It’s all about the shields” Tim says, “We are all protected together by the shields. Moving forward together. Coming together - it’s all about connection”.
The shields themselves are exquisite objects, hand carved using both traditional techniques and modern tools; even the process of making is rich with Tim’s personal philosophy. All the shields in this show are carved from two Ironbark trees that fell naturally on a neighbours property and were gifted to the artist. One of the trees is approximately 200 years old. Potentially it was a sapling when the first European colonisers arrived.
The idea for this body of work has been with Tim Selwyn for at least a decade but he was waiting for the right moment for it to manifest. Then the Ironbark trees fell and there was a calling from across the Hawkesbury in the form of the artist residency at La Crème Creative Inc. in Brookvale. It is almost as if the shields orchestrated the whole thing.