PORT ADELAIDE ART EXHIBITION

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide) (15:31): I am delighted to talk about an art exhibition that I was fortunate enough to open last week in the seat of Port Adelaide. It is an exhibition that is entitled Reflections, and is the first one to be held in a new gallery called Yampu, which is the Aboriginal word for dolphin. The Kaurna totem for the area is a black swan, but as we all know, dolphins are most-loved creatures in the Port River, and the gallery owners sought permission from Kaurna elders to be able to call the gallery Yampu.

The exhibition was set up by the Port Adelaide Artists Forum, and I would like to pay tribute to Bob Daly and Kalyna Micenko who set up the exhibition and are two of the most generous and community-minded artists I have ever come across. Prior to the election, I was involved in a fantastic exhibition of community activism in art through the Dragon's Breath Parade, in which several community groups, including the local group of the Labor Party, were enabled to create art—despite our evident lack of talent—through the good offices of Bob and Kalyna and their resident artist. We created lanterns that were then floated down the Port River in a very moving display.

The Reflections exhibition that has just opened at Gallery Yampu is not only a beautiful exhibition, of course, with very lovely art from local artists—mainly close to Port Adelaide, but also from the wider Adelaide area—but also a very good theme for the area of Port Adelaide: to contemplate the reflections on the past, present and future of that area, which are highly contested and very dear to the people who live there.

The location of the gallery is at Jenkins Street, in one of the boat sheds, and that has gone from having a boating history—it still has some boating activity with the dragon boats—but is moving into becoming a real hub for art. I like to think of that as a very good example of the future of Port Adelaide, where Port Adelaide is emerging as a very vibrant arts centre, and I was delighted to see that in such a material representation in this art exhibition.