MAREA ATKINSON

 

Marea Atkinson is an artist/researcher at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia in Adelaide.  Her research interests include, the relationship between art and astronomy and the preservation of starlight.  She received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, USA with additional study in Australia, Asia and Europe. She has written papers for the UNESCO supported International Starlight Initiative. In 2014, she exhibited at The Last Paradise, Rome Triennial at the National Library in Rome, The
Ephemeral and Its Opposite at Onishi Projects Gallery in New York and the Electron Salon at the LACDA gallery in Los Angeles.  Her work is held in numerous collections including the Brooklyn Museum, Detroit Institute of Art, National Gallery of Australia, Jodrell Bank Observatory University of Manchester and the
Peace Museum of Chicago.

 

This work was inspired by the foundation of the city of Thebes, with references to water, the full moon and the topology of the landscape.
The Oracle of Dephi, instructed Cadmus to follow a cow with a white full moon- shaped spot on either flank and to settle the city wherever the cow rested. Cadmus followed the cow and it finally stopped at the river Cephisus. This is where Cadmus and his followers built the city of Thebes.  This city has been sacked and rebuilt over the centuries, the layered myths are embedded into the earth and the elements. This Hellenic city remains resilient to this day.