Reparative Aesthetics

Guest curator: Professor Susan Best

How do artists represent the disempowered without evoking pity or voyeurism?

Rosângela Rennó and Fiona Pardington, artists based in the southern hemisphere (Brazil and New Zealand), take a reparative approach to this topic. Their powerful portraits are not, however, redemptive or restorative in the straightforward way one might suppose. For them, reparative aesthetics signals the capacity to assimilate the consequences of destruction and violence.

Secondary school education resource

This resource has been developed by Griffith University Art Gallery in partnership with Griffith University 4th Year Bachelor of Secondary Education (Visual Arts) students for secondary school students attending the exhibition.

Download the Reparative Aesthetics education resource.

Panoptic Press presentation

Professor Susan Best presented a lecture entitled 'Reparative Aesthetics Witnessing in Contemporary Art Photography' at The Finest Art Seminar Series Today (FASST II) on Sunday 26 July 2015. View Sue’s insightful presentation below. Video by Panoptic Press, published 1 October 2015.

Downloadable exhibition labels