The Idealist / ‘Por Timor: Elastic/Borracha/Elastico’

Book Launch
Wednesday 25 October
The Cross Art Projects

Time: 6pm for a 6.30pm start
RSVP is essential as space is limited

This short-term exhibition project will be on display from 25 to 28 October, 2023

Join us for the launch of The Idealist, the new work of fiction by the celebrated novelist and essayist Nicholas Jose, set against the turmoil of the independence movement in East Timor.

The Cross Art Projects is displaying ‘Por Timor: Elastic/Borracha/Elastico’, an exhibition revisiting documentary prints by artists Victor De Sousa, Narelle Jubelin, Fiona MacDonald, Maria Madeira (from Elastic/Borracha/Elastico, Timor-Leste/Australia Mobile Contemporary Artists’ Residency, 2014) along with historic tais/weavings (from Dili post-referendum, courtesy private collection).

Elastic / Borracha / Elástico witnessed Timor Leste’s reconstruction through the eyes of four artists who travelled to eleven of the thirteen districts in a mobile residency in late 2012. The artists recorded everyday life and the inspirational work of women weavers and traditional builders whose resilient cultural upkeep subversively aided the forty-year liberation struggle.

The print set documents informal meetings with weavers, builders and school children in eleven of Timor Leste’s thirteen districts.

Thanks to, Paulina Amaral, Maria Ximenes, Alberto De Cruz, Albertina Da Cruz, Terezinha Da Cruz, Domingas Soares, Emilea Orzinda Amaral, Francisco Neto Amaral, Ferninia Da Conceição, Cecilia Baros, Anna Flora, Agusta De Fatima, Filomena De Santos, Celina Pinto, Anistacia Gama, Koperativa Girasol Alfayate I.T.N Beloi and Cristina Da Costa with school children.

Elastic is an award-winning (Freemantle Art Award) set of 10 prints.

The Idealist will be launched by Julia Leigh, the internationally acclaimed author of the novels The Hunter and Disquiet, as well as a playwright, memoirist, filmmaker and New Yorker cartoonist.

Copies of The Idealist will be sold on the night by Giramondo Publishing

‘The Idealist’ by Nicholas Jose. Published September 2023 by Giramondo Publishing.

Opening night,The Idealist / Por Timor, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Photo courtesy: Giramondo Publishing.

Opening night,The Idealist / Por Timor, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Photo courtesy: Giramondo Publishing.

Opening night,The Idealist / Por Timor, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Photo courtesy: Giramondo Publishing.

Opening night,The Idealist / Por Timor, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Photo courtesy: Giramondo Publishing.

Links & Downloads

To view art project Elastic/Borracha/Elastico: DARWIN <> SYDNEY <> DILI Mobile Residency: https://www.crossart.com.au/exhibition-archive/elastic-borracha-elastico-dili-darwin-sydney-27-september-to-18-october-2014/

To view each print and the Colophon information please see: https://www.crossart.com.au/store-elastic-print-set/