Susan Norrie

Enola, 2004
DVD and 4 chairs installation
each signed and dated by the artist, number 1 from an edition of 6

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The work is 8:40 mins
number 1 from an edition of 6

Provenance
Mori Gallery, Sydney
Acquired from the above

Exhibited
other examples from this edition have been exhibited at:
'On Reason and Emotion', Biennale of Sydney, Sydney 2004, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004
'Cinema Capacete IV', Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2004
'World without End', Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, 2005
'The Elightenments', Edinburgh International Festival, Scotland, 2009

Susan Norrie's acclaimed video 'Enola' depicts a dreamy, otherworldly landscape of global icons in an exploration of the effects of nuclear war on the city of Hiroshima. At first, the viewer is lured into a charming miniature world as the camera slowly pans through the architectural theme work in Tobu, Japan where 102 buildings from the Eiffel Tower to St Peters Basilica to the World Trade Centre are built 1/25 of their actual size and set in a landscaped garden.

The lullaby-like soundtrack of Burt Bacharach's 'Walk on By' and Disney's 'It's a small world' is used 'to lull people into believing in a Brave New World' . Norrie cleverly plays with the effects of real documentary footage and an imagined fantasy land. Her use of slow motion grainy shots induce a childlike wonder and diversion while a stronger perhaps more serious message about the state of our world is conveyed. Ultimately the video is a celebration of humanity's resilience in the face of adversity.

'Enola' was first shown in 'On Reason and Emotion', Biennale of Sydney in 2004 and has been in many international exhibitions since. Others from the small edition of 6 are held in the collections of Art Gallery of Western Australia and Queensland Art Gallery.

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Susan Norrie's preoccupation with politics and the environment have
always informed the subject matter of her work. From the feminist overtones of
her earlier series 'Lavished Living', (1983-1984) and 'Objet D'Art' (1988), to
her comments on consumerism found in her series 'Tall Tales and True'
(1986-1987) and 'Peripherique' (1989), or to the more recent video works
'Undertow' (2002) and the geologically and politically volatile view of
Indonesia documented in 'Havoc', seen at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Norrie’s
diverse oeuvre is challenging and, at times, polemical in its honest
deconstruction of modern society.

After studying painting at the National Art School, Sydney and the National
Gallery School, Melbourne in the 1970s, Norrie began creating films and
installation pieces in the mid-1990s; works that blur the line between art and documentary.
The beauty of Norrie’s works – whether it be painting, drawing, installation or
video – is Norrie's control of media and materiality. The tactile quality of
her surfaces are often a contradictory experience to the harsh reality of the
stories she tells.

From the moment Norrie began exhibiting in 1982, her work has been
highly regarded for being both conceptually and materially advanced. In 1987, she
won the first Moet & Chandon prize for an artist under 35, which became a
pivotal point in her career. Since then, she has held residencies at Greene
Street Studio, New York, and in New Zealand and Germany. She received the 1997
Seppelt Prize, Contemporary Art Award, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. In
1999 she received an Australia Council Fellowship, and in 2004 she received an
APA Scholarship for PhD Studies at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Norrie’s work has been exhibited in many international and national
surveys of contemporary art. She represented Australia at the 2007 Venice
Biennale, and has been in important group shows including the Montreal Biennale (2015); the Biennale of Sydney (2014, 2004); the Yokohama Triennale (2011); In the Balance: Art for a Changing World,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2010); and Figuring Landscapes, Tate Modern, London (2008). Norrie's work has been written on extensively and is held in all state and most regional gallery
collections of Australia, as well as in the Auckland City Art Gallery and the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.