Panacea is a major exhibition, drawn from the City of Fremantle Art Collection, offering each of us some personal solace as we experience the worldwide shock and disruption of COVID19.

Through thoughtful curation Panacea, from the Greek word meaning ‘a universal remedy’, is FAC’s invitation to the community to reflect and find restorative and optimistic human moments at this time of uncertainty.

Panacea comprises 148 works by 70 artists selected from the City’s Art Collection and includes paintings, drawings, photography, ceramics, prints and video.

FAC curators André Lipscombe and Ric Spencer present Panacea as a journey through FAC’s spaces, a constructed narrative from home life to isolation, to re-emerging into an altered social world.

The exhibition brings together significant historical and contemporary artworks by WA artists including Marcus Beilby, Penny Bovell, Sharyn Egan, Jeremy Kirwan-Ward, Eveline Kotai, Jane Martin, Brian McKay, Kathleen O’Connor and Ken Wadrop.

Photographs are also prominent with inclusion of important works by WA photographers, Christine Gosfield and Graham Miller and a series of artist portraits by Brad Rimmer and Tom Gibbons.

Also included are several winning works from the prestigious Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award by national artists such as Mike Parr and Keith Cowlam, as well as numerous examples of ceramics by WA ceramicists, including Sandra Black, Maria Phillips and Gary Zeck.

The City’s Collection

The City of Fremantle Art Collection is grounded in the story of Fremantle, where artists have always chosen to work and live. It is the largest municipal collection in the state. Over five decades the collection has grown to over 1,500 pieces including paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs and WA ceramics. The majority of the artworks both reflect and reveal Fremantle life – its people, relationships, work, culture, politics, social rituals, conflict and leisure time.

Jim Cathcart, Director of Fremantle Arts Centre said, “During this weird, unsettling time we wanted to provide a quiet moment of reflection and refuge for our audience, and reveal the depth and quality of the City of Fremantle Art Collection.”

For André Lipscombe, Curator of the City of Fremantle Art Collection “Panacea demonstrates that preservation of the art of the contemporary past can be harnessed to reflect the extraordinary circumstances all of us face in an active and emerging crisis.”

“The value of an art collection to its community is best expressed by the quality of the stories it can tell over time.”

Panacea opens 6:30pm Friday 31 July and is open daily until Sunday 20 September.

Tour the Exhibition

Exhibiting Artists

Pat Barblett (WA) | Ray Beattie (WA/QLD) | Marcus Beilby (WA)

Krim Benterrak (WA) | Robert Birch (WA/NSW) | Sandra Black (WA)

Les Blakebrough (TAS) | Brian Blanchflower (WA) | Yvonne Boag (NSW)

Alan Bourne (WA) | Penny Bovell (WA) | Sue Brook (WA)

Mandy Browne (WA) | Rupert Bunny (VIC) | Peter Burgess (NSW)

Chris Capper (WA/NSW) | Catherine Coomer (WA) | Keith Cowlam (SA)

David Dare Parker (WA) | Jenny Dawson (WA) | Domenico de Clario (VIC)

William Dobell (NSW) |  Mary Dortch (WA) | Alexander Douglas (VIC)

George Duerden (WA) | Stuart Earnshaw (WA) | Sharyn Egan (WA)

David Frazer (VIC) | Tom Gibbons (WA) | Christine Gosfield (WA)

Victor Greenaway (VIC) | Richard Gunning (WA)  | Basil Hadley (SA)

George Haynes (WA) | Ron Hemmings (ACT) | Janis Heston (WA)

Ando Hiroshige (JPN) | Marie Hobbs (WA) | Giles Hohnen (WA)

Bevan Honey (WA) | Paji Honeychild (WA) | Michael Iwanoff (WA)

Ben Jones (WA) | Edgar Karabanovs (WA) | Walter Keeler (UK)

Jeremy Kirwan-Ward (WA) | Eveline Kotai (WA) | Janet Kovesi Watt (WA)

Utagawa Kunisada (JPN) | Janet Mansfield (WA) | Jane Martin (WA)

Brian McKay (WA) | Graham Miller (WA) | Gina Moore (WA/VIC)

Ann Murray (WA) | Laurel Nannup (WA) | Kathleen O’Connor (WA)

Mike Parr (NSW) | Maria Phillips (WA) | Shane Pickett (WA)

Tracy Puruntatameri (NT) | Trevor Richards (WA) | Elvis Richardson (NSW)

Brad Rimmer (WA) | Jean Robins (WA) | David Rose (NSW)

Arthur Russell (WA) | Christopher Sanders (VIC) | Jan Senbergs (VIC)

Michael Shannon (VIC) | Mirek Smisek (NZ) | Derek Smith (NSW)

Penny Smith (TAS) | John Spooner (VIC) | Helen Taylor (WA)

Helicopter Tjungurrayi (WA) | Karen Turnbull (NSW) | Hossein Valamanesh (SA)

Ken Wadrop (WA) | Rosemary Whittaker (WA) | Utagawa Yoshikazu (JPN) | Garry Zeck (WA)

Exhibition Reviews

View the Collection Online

You can view a selection of works from the City of Fremantle Art Collection via the Collections WA portal. This new resource connects the public with stories of WA’s unique environment, history, culture, and identity via the cultural, creative and natural material held in collections all over the state.

The City was one of ten organisations involved with the initial pilot and launch of Collections WA. More than 350 works from the City of Fremantle Art Collection are currently available to view online. More works will be added in the coming months.

City of Fremantle Art Collection