MADE / WORN Australian Contemporary Jewellery

Made / Worn: Australian Contemporary Jewellery explores the act of making jewellery, from intimate pieces to large-scale objects. All works in the exhibition are designed to be worn - to adorn and embellish the body and to be a vehicle for personal expression. 

Twenty-two jewellers are represented in this exhibition, with works spanning a wide range of materials, techniques and meanings, and designs that are playful, intricate, conceptual, personal and political. 

Jewellery has been defined as an act of art, craft and design, which lives and breathes on the bodies of those who wear it. It begins with a concept, often in the form of a two-dimensional line drawing, before taking shape as a unique and multifaceted object. Once completed, a piece of jewellery can contribute to the persona of the wearer, while seemingly taking on the attributes of a wearer. Most importantly, it can out-live the initial wearer to become a time-honoured and treasured possession for future generations. 

In the supporting exhibition publication, Melinda Young explains in her essay, ‘Everything and nothing – jewellery beyond adornment’ that as a maker, a wearer and a viewer of contemporary jewellery, she is interested in jewellery beyond its life as adornment. 

This is a visually exciting exhibition that showcases some of the most striking, personal, conceptual and beautiful items of contemporary jewellery and body adornment being made in Australia today. 

FILM 

The Made/Worn film was made to accompany the exhibition by Angus Lee Forbes. It features a number of artists in the exhibition and gives some deeper insights into what inspires these artists and what contemporary jewellery can be. 


IMAGES:
Zoe VENESS Return Loop: Double Loop 2020 Image: Zoe Veness 
Pennie Jagiello What We Leave Behind: Heirlooms of the Anthropocene #4, 2019-2020. Image: Bewley Shaylor
Jess DAREMaking time: Exchange Between Jess and Her Son Banjo 2019 Image: Marcus Ramsay