This exploration of love is what we need right now

The Age

2 days ago

Despite it feeling like the world has gone mad, politically at least, there are always examples of love in our midst. It's an idea that inspired Dr Nur Shkembi's extraordinary new show, Five Acts of Love.
'In this current moment, it is difficult not to see love in proximity to the tumult and turmoil of the world,' she says. 'We see love manifesting in great numbers, as solidarity between friends, communities and between complete strangers in various movements across the globe. We also see the love of individuals, and of humanity, or even nature, as a form of resistance, ever evolving, anew.'
Walking into the cavernous, darkened space at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, featuring each work spotlit with the light creating shapes and shadows on the floor, it feels almost like theatre.
That's precisely what Shkembi intended. 'Even your eyes having to adjust, it takes a moment. So you do slow down in the space and kind of immerse [yourself]. That's the magic of exhibition-making,' she says. 'You have to move your body and move to engage with [the works]; it changes the way you move through the gallery.'
An extraordinary array of art is featured, some new, some old, made by many of this country's top artists: Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Hoda Afshar, Megan Cope, Eugenia Flynn, D Harding, Saodat Ismailova, Khaled Sabsabi, Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind, Yhonnie Scarce, Ali Tahayori and the late Hossein Valamanesh.
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'There is a lot of vulnerability; the artists are sharing very deeply personal histories, personal struggles, speaking to identity and also different forms of intimacy,' Shkembi says. The works speak about family, memory, grief, yearning and resilience.
The fact Shkembi works regularly with many of the artists adds another dimension, according to Shelley McSpedden, senior curator at ACCA.
Shkembi, who received an OAM for outstanding service to visual arts this year, worked with McSpedden and Dr Emma Clarke, then ACCA's First Nations curator, to create the exhibition. Clarke has since moved to the NGV as head of Indigenous art.