The Pleasure in Treasure

“Corndale Man - Alex (Sandy) Hunter” by Jocelyn Carmel Brown

It began with a simple portrait. A mouthful of ochre, sprayed onto rock touched an ancient, indigenous Australian hand told the first story.

I am here. This is my place. I exist.

Portraiture has had a long, distinguished history. It is the faces we remember down through generations. Monet knocked up a sublime haystack. Turner captured ethereal London skylines. But it’s the faces that burn into our memory, haunt us, and leave us wondering.

Who hasn’t looked at the world’s most famous painting, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and pondered what stories she has to tell. What experience brought her to such a wry smile? What did the world’s most famous artist see in her to capture this moment?

Were Mondigliani’s women that aloof, Picasso’s that sexually charged? Have the countless artists drawn to the Madonna and Child, or a grown-up Christ captured the essence of Christianity? How do you distil a life into a single moment on canvas?

The media bombards us with images of people we’re familiar with, but don’t know. We look for another side, something a facile, pop.dot.com world fails to reveal - something that reminds us that deep down, no matter how famous these people are, they remind us of who we are.

We are all hands up against the rock at one short moment in time. The Lismore City Art Prize for Living Regional Treasure marks out our place - our people living in our Northern Rivers, NSW, Australia. As the media message becomes increasingly global, to celebrate what happens in our own back yard becomes increasingly important.

We need to remember and honour the small moments that make us a community and the people who made them happen. Art is a wonderful way to remember.

In 2000, we continue to tell our stories – partly for our own benefit, but also for future generations, who will look back on this time and recognise what an inspirational, creative and close-knit community the Northern Rivers has. And hopefully, they will see that the Lismore Regional Art Gallery’s Living Regional Treasures collection is as striking, eloquent and enduring as that first hand against stone.

• This is an edited version of an essay written by Echo editor Simon Thomsen, on the Living Regional Treasures exhibition, featuring portraits of people who live in the Northern Rivers region, on show at Lismore Regional Art Gallery until August 6.

You can vote in the $1000 Echo People’s Choice Award while visiting the gallery. A selection of last years portraits is currently on show in shop windows in the Lismore CBD.

“Riddle of Wyrd” (Heather Attrill) by Josephine Window	“Sister Carthage” by Kathleen Cavanagh
“Byronic Hero: Portrait of MLC Senator Ian Cohen (Greens)” by Richard Cornish (detail)	“The Seed” (Michael Hennessy) by Brigitte Havan