Sidney McMahon’s artistic practice is led by their unfolding queer narrative. Taking inspiration from Garth Brooks’ Australian rock alter ego Chris Gaines’, Dolly Parton’s lyricism and Keith Urban’s Instagram account, McMahon appropriates the aesthetics and materiality of country music to unpack the growth, stoicism, longing and hope the genre nurtured throughout their childhood in rural Queensland. ‘Of hope and longing’ is a project that has seen McMahon draw upon their agricultural upbringing, folding place and materiality together to make new work. Having undertaken a series of residencies in Goulburn and Collector, McMahon has returned to a regional setting not dissimilar to their childhood locale of rural Queensland.

The artist exhibits a series of drawings within the Gallery, as well as a series of live digital performances hosted via the Galleries online space. Informed by the visceral array of materials and imagery they use in their installation works, the drawings suggest texture, touch and material that will be explored through these three online performances. These live performances will be streamed from McMahon’s computer’s desktop, to the gallery’s social media accounts. They will draw on McMahon’s personal connections between queerness and country music, as well as engaging with the Goulburn local community by requesting their own submissions in the form of drawings, videos and photos, that will then be used to inform and be shown within the work. 

Creating new works within the context of Goulburn’s digital, physical, social and psychological terrain, McMahon posits an exploration of complex identities – enmeshed in associative memory and meaning.

Daniel Mudie Cunningham's essay on this exhibition, HANDHELD, can be viewed here. It is an exquisite and critical accompaniement to the show. Please note strong language and adult themes do feature in this written piece.

McMahon holds a Master of Fine Arts from Sydney College of the Arts, and was the 2017 recipient of the Parramatta Visual Arts Fellowship.  They have completed residencies in London, Paris, Cambridge, Tokyo and Kyoto and has shown nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions in various galleries including, MOP Projects (NSW), Clearview Ltd (LDN), Open Source Gallery (NY), Auto Italia (LDN), Metro Arts (QLD), Raygun (QLD), Success (WA) and Verge Gallery (NSW).