People and Places on Show at Cohuna Art Gallery

By Kirstin Nicholson

It is not often said that brothers and sisters work well together, but for William Ainger and Fiona Gladigau, the sibling partnership has worked favourably. The duo has partnered for the second time to present an exhibition of paintings and photography at the Cohuna Art Gallery and attended the opening night on Saturday. 

William, a graphic artist from Melbourne, and Fiona, an art teacher from Bendigo, grew up in Cohuna and each has fond memories of their childhood and the people and places associated with it. 

“We gave the title, ‘People and Places’,” said William, and of his photography, says, “All the places still interact with people whether they’re in the shots or not. People live there or there’s something about that space that has contained people, or where people go to work. People have interacted in the space in some way, it means something to someone.”

Many of William’s photographs have been taken in and around Cohuna. In fact, one of William’s favourite images is a recent shot of the building previously known as Waterson’s Cafe. “We’ve grown up there, with the old VHS videos you’d rent, a huge bag of lollies for a dollar or fifty cents at the time, and pineapple crushes. It’s been a childhood scenario so getting a good shot of that means a lot to me.”

William has worked with a range of camera technologies but has recently gone back to basics. “My newest acquisition is a polaroid camera, but it’s Fuji, it does the same thing. What you see is what you get, and you’ve got almost no control over focus. You’ve got to look through this little window, almost not knowing how it’s going to be framed exactly and it pops out and it’s done. There’s no changing it, I quite like that. You don’t know if the colour’s going to work, but it’s instant, and you get that instant gratification.”

Fiona says Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo features prominently in her artwork. “Her work is really emotive, and that’s what I think my work is also. It’s all about the emotion of life. If you look through it and unpack the layering, there’s a lot of layering and a lot of texture in all of my pieces. It’s all about what you, as the viewer, can identify with looking at the artwork,” she said.

The artwork is eye-catching, not only because of the layers and textures, but because of the range of materials and the use of sculpting which give a three-dimensional effect. 

Her focus piece of the exhibition is a tall painting she calls, ‘The Tree of Life’, a painting that she says has so many different elements and projects what’s thrown at us in life. “It’s about picking out the good bits of everyday life and celebrating what is good in life to take away with us. I like to celebrate that if you’ve had a bad day, pick out the good pieces. Everyone has a story, and I think that’s really important. Also, with everyone’s own personal struggles you try not to be too judgemental because you don’t know what someone’s personal story is. I think that’s what I’m also trying to reflect upon.”

The ‘People and Places’ exhibition is open until the end of February. 

The Cohuna Art Gallery, located at the Gannawarra Shire complex, has been in operation for 11 years and has recently reopened after COVID-19 forced its closure last year. Aspiring artists are encouraged to contact Lorraine Learmonth or Denise Waterson for information on exhibiting.