Lynne Roberts-Goodwin

Lynne Roberts-Goodwin (born 1954) is an Australian photographer, video and installation artist. As one of Australia's leading contemporary artists, she has influenced a generation of visual arts practitioners depicting nature and the landscape. Her photographic work has been described as "grounded in a deep concern for nature and humanity".

Awards and grants from research institutes and museums enabled her to study wildlife in India, America, Australia and United Arab Emirates, where she documented endangered species to form links between the sciences and the visual arts. Her False Tales series (1995) comprised animal images from history and contemporary urban society, while Boris the Dog 2 conceptually investigated 19th and 20th century animal discourse. Her exhibition Blindfold in the AGNSW Contemporary Project Space in 1997 documented the wapiti and its trade from rural Australia to Seoul, Korea. Her installation Tankstream - Into the head of the cove has been on display in Sydney since 1999.

Bad Birds is a series of 85 images produced while Roberts-Goodwin was on a residency through the Institute of Electronic Art, New York, in 2001. The images are "anti-portraits" (facing away from the camera) of long-dead birds from the collection of the Department of Ornithology at the Australian Museum in Sydney. From an exhibition entitled Landings, it further develops the imaging of interdependent relationship of humans with animals, and how human feelings are translated to the natural world.

She was an artist-in-residence in Los Angeles, New York, New Delhi, Mumbai, Beirut, Mexico, Paris, and Riyadh. She is based in Sydney.

Notable works

Tankstream - Into the head of the cove (1999)

Tankstream - Into the head of the cove is an installation set into the pavement in five separate sites from Pitt Street Mall to Alfred Street in Sydney. It consists of coloured glass modules overlapping and angled away from stainless steel lines, creating a diagram mapping the course of the subterranean Tank Stream in relation to the direction of Pitt Street, comparing the natural and man-made conduits of energy in the city. At the final site on Alfred Street the rods splay to represent the delta as the stream flows into Sydney Cove. The installation includes an inscription by Captain Watkin Tench, who recorded the presence of water in Sydney Cove in his diary in 1788. Her public works have been characterised by being almost invisible, as she prefers art in city streets and parks to have minimal impact on their surroundings.

Falconry projects (2002-)

In 2002, Roberts-Goodwin was first invited to undertake a falconry project at Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, Sweihan, Abu Dhabi, by avian veterinarian specialist Dr. Jaime Samour. It was followed by projects undertaken at the Wrsan wildlife sanctuary near Abu Dhabi at the request of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. Since then, she has been photographing Arabian falcons and falconers to examine "the conceptual issues of the 'perceived exotic' of place and racial belonging", both as a Western stereotype and as a living practice. She has also been liaising with an assisting ornithologists in the region to develop animal passports to assist the regulation of the international rare species trade and the eradication of the illicit hunting-bird market.

Disappearing Act (2005)

In 2004, Roberts-Goodwin undertook a project involving the Incense/Frankincense Trade and migration route commencing in Oman, through Yemen then traversing the Kings Highway in Jordan. The Disappearing Act project followed the route indexing many sites of prehistoric villages, biblical towns, Crusader Castles, Nabatean temples, Roman Fortresses, Islamic towns and the key archaeological sites within Jordan. Her work on the project was exhibited at Sherman Gallery Goodhope, Sydney, Australia.

Selected solo exhibitions

1979: Over There, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australia 1980: From Here, Peterloo Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom 1981: North/South, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom 1981: Drawn, Sloane Street Gallery, London, United Kingdom 1982: Works 1981 / 1982, Sloane Street Gallery, London, United Kingdom 1982: Recent O/S Works, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australia 1984: Works 1982 / 1984, IMAGES Gallery, Sydney, Australia 1984: Site Works, SALLE SANDOZ Gallery, CitC) Internationale des Arts, Paris, France 1986: Recent Works, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australia 1986: Looking Glass, SALLE SANDOZ Gallery, CitC) Internationale des Arts, Paris, France 1989: NO SPACE, Camera Lucida Window Space, Sydney, Australia 1989: Works 1989, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australia 1990: MOMENT, Camera Lucida Window Space, Sydney, Australia 1990: SPACES OF DISSENSION, ROAR 2 Studios Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1991: TERRASCAPE, CITRI Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1991: TOUCH, Linden Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1992: TOUCH, First Draft Gallery, Sydney, Australia 1993: 90's Work!, Biota Gallery, Los Angeles, U.S.A. 1993: PHANTASM, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia 1994: Remote-Half-Light, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), Perth, Australia 1994: Remote-Half-Light, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia 1994: A Certain Blindness, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia 1995: False Tales, Michael Wardell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 1995: False Tales, Dishy Dogs, 4 x 4, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, U.S.A. 1995: Blindfold, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand 1997: Blindfold, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 1997: Pink Planks, Artspace, Sydney, Australia 1999: Solo exhibition at Renard Wardell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2002: Landings, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2003: Azure, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney; Cultural Foundation, Abu Dhabi, UAE 2005: Disappearing Act, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia 2007: Random Acts, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia 2014: MORE THAN EVER.M Contemporary Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2014: Solo exhibition at Cohen Hadler Contemporary, Sydney, Australia 2016: "closeupatadistance" Kronenberg Wright Artists Projects, Sydney, Australia

Collections

Roberts-Goodwin's work is held in the following public and private collections: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia Artbank Australian Opera Trust Gold Coast City Art Gallery Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Transfield Foundation/Kumagai Australian Collection M Contemporary Gallery, Sydney, Australia Aberson Exhibits, Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A. Nuova Galleria Morone, Milan, Italy TAFE Collection, Bathurst, Australia RMIT Collection, Melbourne, Australia Peter Stuyvesant Trust Westpac Collection Australian Embassy, Abu Dhabi Department of Trade & Foreign Affairs, Australia-India Commission, Delhi Sheikh Zayhad Bin Sultan Al Nayhan Sheikh Mohammad Bin Sultan Al Nayhan, Crown Prince Private Collection CitC) Internationale Des Arts, Paris University of Illinois, Chicago Grosvenor Gallery, Manchester Medlock Fine Art Centre, Manchester Peterloo Gallery, Manchester Sloane Street Gallery, London Whitworth Gallery, Manchester ERWDA (Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency) Collection, Abu Dhabi NID Collection, Ahmenabad

Publications

Times Like These, 2012 More Than Ever: Lynne Roberts Goodwin, Bondi, 2014 Disappearing Act, 2005 Random Acts, 2007

Awards

2010: Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award 2013: Hazelhurst Art Award

Grants

Roberts-Goodwin received the following grants:

1979: Basil and Muriel Hooper Travelling Art Scholarship, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 1980: Dyason Bequest Artist Travel Grant, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 1983: Artists Overseas Travel Grant, Visual Arts/Crafts Board, Australia Council 1985: London Education Authority Artist Travel Grant, UK 1989: New Image Research Grant, Australian Film Commission, Sydney 1998-99: Department of Primary Industries Grant, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) 1992-96: Faculty Research Grant, COFA, University of New South Wales, Sydney 1996-97: New Work Grant, Visual Arts Fund, Australia Council 1999-2000: Faculty Research Grant, COFA, University of New South Wales, Sydney 1999-2000: Australia India Foundation Grant, collaboration with World Wildlife Fund and Wilderness India 2000: UNESCO Sanskriti Artist Asialink Residency, Sanskriti, New Delhi, India 2001-02: UNSW Research Grant (UAE; Washington, Chicago, US) 2000-03: UNSW Research Grant (Saudi Arabia; Pakistan; India) 2003-04: New Work Grant, Visual Arts Fund, Australia Council 2005-06: New Work Grant, Visual Arts Fund, Australia Council 2009 New Work Grant, Visual Arts Fund, Australia Council 2012 New Work Grant, Visual Arts Fund, Australia Council International Commissions/Projects: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ‘Dead Sea’ Project, 2015-2016 Australia India Institute, ARTIST RETREAT, Jaipur, India 2013 ONDARTE International Artist's Residency, Akumal, Mexico, 2012 Fondation Arabe pour l'Image Artist Residency, Beirut, Lebanon, 2009 AQIS Quarantine Artist-in-Residence, Sydney International Airport, Sydney 2005 ERWDA (Environmental Research Wildlife Development Agency) and Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) Falcon Hospital Residency, Abu Dhabi, 2002 Rockefeller Foundation Artist Residency, Alfred, New York, 2001 UNESCO Sanskriti Kendra, Delhi, India