Narrogin’s Ross Storey and Ned Crossley’s artwork Nidja Wirrinidj selected for John Curtin Gallery exhibition

A collaborative painting by Ned Crossley and Ross Storey has been selected to feature in a survey of works to be shown at John Curtin Gallery from August 12 to October 8. Painted over two boards, Nidja Wirrinidj — Spirit Here was first exhibited at the Open Borders: Between Confinement and Liberation project in Narrogin in February. In that project exhibitions explored the theme of borders following the COVID-19 pandemic across WA. The survey will feature works by 40 artists from across all 12 regions. Crossley and Storey worked together to produce Nidja Wirrinidj, a landscape that depicts an area of the Dryandra woodland. “We worked in this particular place and there was something about it, it had a lot of energy, it’s a really unique little place,” Storey said. “What entranced us was the old tree, when I touched it the tree gave me a story, old trees have got a lot of energy.” Nidja Wirrinidj depicts the visible landscape and an unseen story of place and life. “The trees are all the same species and the branches of the trees intertwine,” Crossley said. “We’d been talking about country and caring for country and caring for people, how it’s all sort of tied in together, and the trees seemed to illustrate a good community arrangement that we would do well to study and try to emulate as humans. “Despite the fact that they are individual trees, there’s not really any borders, plants communicate underground and above ground with their branches intertwining. “The impetus was, I suppose that when you’re feeling hemmed in you can go bush where there are no borders and be yourself. “When you’re in nature, you can have that feeling of there being no boundaries.” Storey said that a shared connection to the Australian bush bought the two artists of different cultural backgrounds together and informed their artistic process. “There are intricacies to the land; we’ve come to a point where we have an understanding of each other, our upbringings and thought processes,” he said. “We can be different and that’s OK because then you learn from each other.” Crossley said that the recognition encouraged the artistic partnership. “It’s really good to be in that grouping, it’s a nice affirmation to keep going,” he said. “The plan is to do a series of works together for another exhibition to explore the theme of top story and bottom story some more.”