The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) announced today the five artists selected to exhibit in Primavera 2024: Young Australian Artists –– Teresa Busuttil (SA), Chun Yin Rainbow Chan (陳雋然) (VIC), Aidan Hartshorn (ACT), Monica Rani Rudhar (NSW), and Sarah Ujmaia (VIC), opening on 30 August 2024 until Monday 27 January 2025.
Primavera 2024, curated by MCA Australia Assistant Curator Lucy Latella, considers the possibilities of cultural connection in the face of social, political and geographical challenges. These early-career artists revisit and reimagine family histories to question how cultural identities are shaped and held, and how they continue to evolve with each generation.
On the exhibition, curator Lucy Latella said: ‘The artists in Primavera 2024 draw on a range of media to connect with their culture, community and family, and bring to the fore that which has been concealed or overlooked. Their diverse works highlight that culture isn’t simply inherited but formed in the present.’
Primavera is MCA Australia’s annual exhibition showcasing the work of Australian artists aged 35 years and under. Now in its 33rd year, Primavera continues to be a significant platform for early-career Australian artists and curators to present exciting new work. Since its inception, the exhibition series has presented the work of over 250 artists and over 30 curators and propelled the careers of many of Australia’s most significant artists.
Primavera 2024 curator Lucy Latella joined MCA Australia in 2019 and has organised a range of exhibitions and building commissions with Australian and international artists. She is curator of Julie Rrap: Past Continuous (2024), Lucy Simpson: Holding Ground (2023) and co-curator of Anywhere but here: MCA Primavera Acquisitions (2020).
Suzanne Cotter, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia said, ‘Primavera: Young Australian Artists is a highlight of our programming year when we can share with the public the art of now and its future.’
About this year’s Primavera artists
Teresa Busuttil
Born 1993, Tandanya/Adelaide. Lives and works Tandanya/Adelaide and Valletta, Malta
Teresa Busuttil is a Maltese-Australian artist living between South Australia and Malta. She works across sculpture, installation, photography and moving image to blend personal stories, family history and fantasy. Often using found or repurposed materials, she draws on a range of cultural, historical, and pop culture references to examine the dualities and contradictions of her identity. In 2024, Busuttil undertook a major commission for the inaugural Malta Biennale of Art. In 2023, she was invited to present a solo exhibition, Asleep with the Fishes, at Firstdraft, Sydney as part of the Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) Studio Program. Her work has been exhibited at ACE, Murray Art Museum Albury, West Space in Melbourne, and FELTspace in Adelaide.
Chun Yin Rainbow Chan (陳雋然)
Born 1990, Hong Kong. Lives and works Naarm/Melbourne
Chun Yin Rainbow Chan (陳雋然) is an interdisciplinary artist, singer and music producer based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her work bridges contemporary visual art with a background in popular music, exploring themes of cultural representation, (mis)translation and matrilineal histories. Chan creates immersive installations that combine silk paintings, traditional weaving, sound and performance. Central to her recent projects is the revitalisation of women’s folk songs from the Weitou people, Hong Kong’s original settlers. Reflecting her deep ancestral ties to Weitou women, Chan’s works contemplate the connection between memory, love and loss. In 2024, her work was commissioned for the Yokohama Triennale in Japan. She has exhibited nationally and internationally at Firstdraft Gallery, Artspace, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and I-Project Space, Beijing.
Aidan Hartshorn
Walgalu (Wolgal, Wolgalu) and Wiradjuri peoples.
Born 1995, Wagga Wagga, NSW. Lives and works Kamberri/Canberra, ACT
Aidan Hartshorn is a Walgalu (Wolgalu, Wolgal) Wiradjuri man whose Ancestral land resides in the High Country of Australia, parts of the Snowy Mountains in the Kosciusko National Park, and Riverina region of NSW. His cross-disciplinary practice challenges settler-colonial histories tied to his Aboriginal and European ancestry and identity. Using both natural and industrial materials, his works address the impacts of industrialisation on Walgalu and Wiradjuri Country and culture. Hartshorn was Assistant Curator for the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony (2022) at the National Gallery of Australia and is currently Lecturer of Contemporary Art at the Australian National University’s School of Art and Design. Hartshorn presented his first major installation in 2024 titled These violent delights, at the Ian Potter Gallery at the National Gallery of Victoria as part of the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions.
Monica Rani Rudhar
Born 1994, Dharug Country, Sydney. Lives and works Eora/Sydney
Monica Rani Rudhar is an artist working on Gadigal Land across video, performance and sculpture. Born in Sydney to Indian and Romanian migrant parents, her work speaks to longing and loss as she navigates the cultural disconnection that stems from the complexities of her multi-racial ethnicity. Her work takes the shape of a restorative autobiographical archive that seeks to record her own histories. Her practice attempts to restore familial histories, traditions and rituals that have been dispersed by migration and draws on the labour required to move beyond the barriers to reforging these connections. Rudhar’s work has been exhibited in institutions and artist run spaces in Sydney and Melbourne including First Draft, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Carriageworks, and Chau Chak Wing Museum. She is represented by Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney and is a 2024 PAS Granville Studio artist.
Sarah Ujmaia
Born 1995, Naarm/Melbourne. Lives and works Naarm/Melbourne
Sarah Ujmaia is a first-generation Chaldean artist living and working on unceded Wurundjeri lands. Her practice is largely informed by the wide-reaching impacts of forced displacement and cultural re-writing related to the diasporic experience. Applying translational processes, she regenerates motifs, images and linguistic structures in her material-led approach to object making. Ujmaia has exhibited in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand including recent solo exhibitions at Gertrude Contemporary, ReadingRoom, Heide Museum of Modern Art, TCB Art Inc., and Sutton Projects in Melbourne, and group exhibitions at UTS Gallery and Aotearoa Art Fair with Haydens in Auckland, New Zealand. Ujmaia is a finalist in the Incinerator Art Award 2024 and was a finalist in the Darebin Art Prize 2021. She is currently undertaking her PhD at Monash University.
Primavera is supported by Presenting Patrons Gordon and Tasmin Jackson; MCA Next, the Museum’s program for young philanthropists; Major Partner AV1; and Supporting Partner Vranken-Pommery Australia.
Primavera 2024: Young Australian Artists is a free exhibition on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Level 2 Galleries, from Friday 30 August 2024 until Monday 27 January 2025.
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