Floribunda

Floribunda is an exhibition organised by Bunjil Place in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria. Curated by David Sequeira. 
 

The title, Floribunda, Latin for many-flowering is a hybrid of ‘flower’ and ‘abundance’.

The exhibition Floribunda, a major partnership between the National Gallery of Victoria and Bunjil Place, is an intoxicating larger-than-life mashup of floral imagery, design and motif drawn exclusively from the NGV Collection. Through its ‘Wunderkammer’ style of display, Floribunda celebrates and reimagines the nature and significance of one of Australia’s most important collections. Including Decorative Arts, Fashion and Textiles, Painting, First Nations Australia and Pacific Art, the selection of works spans multiple histories, cultures and art forms. Featuring poignant still life painting, couture embellished with swirls of floral pattern, and objects lavishly adorned with buds and blooms, Floribunda connects human experience with the beauty and poetic symbolism of flowers.

<sub>Header image: 
The Netherlands
Flowerpiece late 17th century
oil on canvas, 70.4 × 54.6 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mr Norton E. Grimwade in memory of his wife Mrs Norton E. Grimwade, 1945 

Below image:
Jean Patou, Paris (fashion house), Jean Patou (designer) 
Afternoon dress c. 1930-1935 (detail)
synthetic fabric, 165.0 cm (centre back) 36.5 cm (waist, flat) 
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 
Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty and the Campbell-Pretty Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2017</sub>

 

 ABOUT THE CURATOR

Artist, curator and academic David Sequeira focuses on the use of colour and geometry in the creation of contemplative experiences. Using colour and geometry as ‘languages’, David works across media to explore issues around high and low art, personal and shared histories, banality and profundity, the reverberations of colonisation and the persisting impact of incomplete histories. Curatorship – articulating the intersections between objects, time, place and space – is an important aspect of his art practice. David has exhibited his work extensively throughout Australia and his work is held in important public collections including the National Gallery of Australia. Prior to his role as Director, Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, David held senior positions in a range of cultural institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Australian Parliament House and the National Film and Sound Archive.