With FireWorks Gallery’s 30^th anniversary approaching next year, 2022 has been another year of celebrating the trailblazers, welcoming new artists to the stable, and continuing to promote contemporary sculpture. These events culminate in the gallery’s final exhibition for the year, 2022 in Review.

Over these past twelve months, FireWorks has paid homage to highly respected artists now deceased, including Michael Nelson Jagamara, Laurie Nilsen, Lin Onus, and Vincent Serico. Several tribute exhibitions were a valuable opportunity to acknowledge their contributions. Iconic images such as Lin Onus’s Michael & I are just slipping down to the pub for a minute hang alongside deftly rendered drawings of barbed wire, Scar by Laurie Nilsen.

The year showcased new art from the gallery’s other long-standing powerhouses too, featuring solo exhibitions of new works by Pat Hoffie, Jennifer Herd and Ian Waldron. A series of cast bronze sculptures by Walala Tjapaltjarri titled Tingari Arrangements returns, exhibiting yet another three-dimensional realisation of original two-dimensional works.   

As is the case with many FireWorks projects, collaborative elements come to the fore. We see Lockhart River artist Rosella Namok’s connection with tropical Queensland’s mangrove country emerge in a series of collaborative Rain stone paintings with Michael Eather, alongside other joint works with Samantha Hobson and Fiona Omeenyo. FireWorks has recently welcomed two new artists Stephen Hart and Piyali Ghosh to the fold in the group shows. A dynamic interplay of sculpture and drawing is again featured in 2022 in Review.

For those who missed even a single exhibition in FireWorks’ 2022 line up, this particular show is a second chance to catch up on this momentous year of art. For those who visited each of the gallery’s exhibitions this year, 2022 in Review is an opportunity to see these works in a new context and reflect on the year that was.