Amy Perejuan-Capone
Defendo
Presented in association with the City of Melville and Artsource
Defendo explores the painful ironies, survival choices and cultural intricacies of hidden family heritage within a colonial and personal context. Featuring an intricately embroidered full-scale replica of a WWII aircraft, this major solo exhibition by Amy Perejuan-Capone pays tribute to her late Grandfather’s legacy and explores a chance discovery about his heritage.
An amazing coincidence opened up an entirely new realm of artistic inquiry for multidisciplinary artist Amy Perejuan-Capone. In a serendipitous encounter, Amy discovered that Auntie Jean Boladeras, a Ballardong Noongar Elder, was her great aunt – revealing a lineage that was never discussed by her brother, Amy's late Grandfather, in his lifetime. For Amy, an artist concerned with negotiating complex personal histories, it was a profound discovery, one that prompted her to reflect on the complexities of his signing up to a bloody international war to defend a home ravaged by ongoing frontier violence.
In Defendo Amy weaves together family stories of invisible resistance to create a gently monumental installation in the lofty atrium of Old Customs House, Fremantle.
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Amy Perejuan-Capone is a multi-disciplinary artist with a background in design, ecology, and aviation. She works between Fremantle, the Perth hills, the Western Australian wheatbelt and international residencies.
Amy graduated with a BA(Fine Art) from Curtin University in 2009 and an Advanced Diploma of Industrial Design from North Metropolitan TAFE in 2014. Her major residencies include the prestigious Shigaraki Ceramic Culture Park, 2019, the Asialink Fremantle - Taipei Artist Village exchange in 2020 and the Upernavik Museum residency, Greenland, in 2017.
Of Amy’s many large-scale public commissions, her most ambitious include One Word For Snow, a series of ephemeral ‘blizzards’ in Perth CBD in 2017, and Don’t Stare at the Sun for Too Long 2019, where she built a full size replica of her father’s light aircraft. Her latest solo exhibition Sky Cave took over the atrium of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in 2021 with a flock of heritage hang gliders and gold mylar foil. Amy was a finalist in the 2023 Ramsay Art Prize at the Art Gallery of South Australia with initial work from her multi-year Defendo project.
| Time & Location |
Sun 11 Feb – Sun 10 MarArtsource, Atrium Gallery, Old Customs House, 8 Phillimore Street, Fremantle / Wayalup |
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| Pricing |
Free Event |
| Accessibility |
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| Gallery Opening Times |
Tue – Sun Exhibition Opening |
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Event Partners
Image
- Amy Perejuan-Capone, 'Defendo', 2022
Supported by
- The City of Melville, the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, and the Minderoo Foundation
Special thanks
- Greg Perejuan, Jacobus Capone and Sidney Lacy
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