Temple
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Find something newTemple is a contemplative artwork created by Australian artists Leila Jeffreys and Melvin J. Montalban that celebrates the awe-inspiring beauty of native cockatoos.
Event details
When
Now closed.
5 April – 30 June 2024
Where
Cost
Free
Temple is an immersive, reflective audiovisual installation that pays homage to the expressive and idiosyncratic native cockatoo.
Slow-motion visuals play across a triptych of towering screens, transforming the NFSA’s expansive Gallery into a space of wonder and delight.
A shallow pool of still water extends the dramatic impact of striking, larger-than-life Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, Galahs and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, evoking the beauty of natural waterways and presenting a space of quiet contemplation.
First commissioned for VIVID Sydney, Temple invites us to reflect on the wonder of nature and our place within it. The installation is a temple to nature with the power to immerse us in the present moment.
Temple was open from 5 April to 30 June 2024 in the Gallery at NFSA Acton.
Artists: Leila Jeffreys x Melvin J. Montalban
Medium: Digital work, three-channel film, 6 min 26 sec loop
Cinematographer: Chris Bryan
Composer: Jackson Milas
Bird Trainer: Ravi Wasan, Feathered Friends Bird Sanctuary
Artist statement
Throughout history, people have made pilgrimages to temples. They have stood before altars, revelling in the tranquillity that comes with stillness, swapping the speed of earthly existence for a connection to something bigger.
According to pantheistic traditions, nature itself is sacred. Regardless of our personal values, there is often an inner knowing that we can find our place in the cosmos by seeking solace in the natural world. Temple stems from this idea of nature as a sacred refuge and offers a place of contemplative sanctuary.
Cockatoos fly in hypnotic loops, appearing and disappearing out of the frame in a reminder of seasons and cycles. They bathe and flap their wings, sending droplets into the space around them, dreamily falling and colliding in slow motion. Below each panel, a shallow pool of still water extrudes outwards toward the viewer, reflecting and refracting the on-screen images.
Together, the elements of Temple serve as an altar to nature. It’s a place that stirs the human spirit, somewhere that allows the viewer to consider deeper questions. But it also asks the viewer to see nature as their personal temple, the link between themselves and a universe that all living creatures are part of, and to understand the natural world as something to cherish and protect.
Leila Jeffreys x Melvin J. Montalban
Artist bios
- Leila Jeffreys x Melvin J. Montalban
Leila Jeffreys
Leila Jeffreys is an acclaimed photographic and video artist best known for captivating images of birds from Australia and around the world that explore and subvert the traditions of portraiture. Her avian subjects are photographed at human scale with a startling attention to colour, line, form and composition. Her practice highlights the connection between humans and other animals, and the profound refuge nature provides in a frantic world.
Increasingly, Jeffreys’ work as an artist is inextricable from her concerns as an environmentalist. Working in the tradition of artist-activists, Jeffreys’ arresting images are the result of years-long periods of research, exploration and investigation. The artist collaborates with conservationists, ornithologists and sanctuaries around the world.
Melvin J. Montalban
Melvin J. Montalban is a filmmaker and artist whose work is typified by evocative storytelling, technical executions and emotional truth.
Montalban recently made his TV directorial debut with The Unusual Suspects, produced by Aquarius Films and starring Miranda Otto and Aina Dumlao. He is developing his first feature film Flesh Without Blood, produced by Thumper Pictures with support from Screen Australia.
Montalban’s recent short film Letters is a sobering tale of bushfire survival and a call to arms to support the Climate Change Bill for MP Zali Steggall. His short films Rope Burn and Cupid have screened at over 20 film festivals in Australia and internationally.
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