Teeya Ryan - Absent Friends

Fri 12 Feb - Sun 21 Mar

LAUNCH: 6pm Friday 12 February

Absent Friends is an exploration of our lost connections to family, friends and the environment as a result of COVID-19. For Teeya Ryan, the environment in her own backyard became a solace and reprieve from the blank white walls of home.

When the world was seemingly shut down, Teeya Ryan immersed herself within local environments to explore and better understand our connections to the environment, and the enhanced intensity and need for the outdoors as a result of being trapped inside. Her goal was to bring the outside in, to replace now-lost human interaction with other life, and to potentially alleviate the claustrophobia felt by herself, her family and the world.

Teeya Ryan won the Tanks Arts Curator’s Award at the 2020 Energy Exhibition and is also the recipient of a RADF grant provided by the Cairns Regional Council, both of which helped greatly to make this exhibition come to life. Absent Friends is her first solo exhibition, and a step into the art world beyond the restraints of school.

Launch: 6pm Friday 12 February

Open: 9.00am – 4.30pm Weekdays, 10am – 2.00pm Weekends

Image caption: Take a Seat (detail), photograph by Teeya Ryan

_{The Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Cairns Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.}