Open Water: The Offering

In Open Water: The Offering artists Erin Coates and Anna Nazzari incorporate underwater video, drawing and scrimshaw to portray their unique vision of an Australian Oceanic Gothic. Taking a true event as a starting point, Open Water: The Offering is based on an incident that occurred in 2020 in the coastal town of Albany when a well-known whaler and gunner on The Cheynes III (a whale chaser) lost his leg after it became entangled in a rope attached to a harpoon fired at a whale. The film charts the imagined journey of a detached human leg, gifted to the Southern ocean and its inhabitants by an otherworldly cetacean. The exhibition builds upon Coates and Nazzari’s most recent foray into the Australian Oceanic Gothic, an internationally award-winning screen work: Cetaphobia, and draws from the existing knowledge of maritime histories, specifically those connected to Erin’s seafaring heritage and the whaling industry in Albany, Western Australia.

Erin Coates is a Perth-based artist and creative producer working across video, installation and drawing. Coates’ work explores the limits of the body and the potential of physical interaction with an environment. Her recent work draws together her background as a rock climber with her interests in architecture and built space. She has also begun developing a series of works with collaborator Anna Nazzari that explore a new vision of the Australian Gothic, focusing on oceanic species, histories and mythologies.

Anna Nazzari is a Perth-based artist and writer. Her practice focuses on the investigation of otherworldly myths, superstitions and events that emphasise moral certainty and foster a reading of the absurd. Her practice is multi-faceted and often encompasses drawing, sculpture, electronics and film. In 2020 she completed a Doctorate of Philosophy (Art) at Curtin University. Her exhibitions and screen works have been shown in Australian galleries and International film festivals. She currently works as a Lecturer at Curtin University’s School of Design and Art, OUA Art Studies’ program.

Exhibition opening Friday 7 July from 6pm

Image credit:
Erin Coates and Anna Nazzari, Open Water: The Offering (still) ,2020, HD video with stereo sound, 4:45, Sound design: Stuart James