Dean Cross was born and raised on Ngunnawal/Ngambri County and is of Worimi descent. He is a transdiscplinary artist, working across media to create powerful and expressive installations that balance the poetic and the political. For this, his first major solo in the region where he spent his younger years, Cross turns to the ancient Greek tragedy of Icarus and Daedalus. The boy who falls after flying too high. A tragedy that has played out across the millennia in a myriad of ways. But what did Icarus leave behind, or perhaps more importantly, who.

This exhibition will examine the too common experience of rural and regional people who need to leave their homes, their Country, in search of opportunities not available to them. A semi-autobiographical exhibition ‘Icarus, my Son’ will ruminate on ideas of home, ambition, cataclysm and loss. It will evoke every young Icarus still out there, delicately perched on ambitions ledge and ask – what do you want? And how far are you willing to go to get it?

We have all been touched by Icarus thinking at some point or another. One wonders though whether it helps or hinders as we wander along our path, arms heavy with wax and feathers. 

This project was initiated by Goulburn Regional Art Gallery as part of The Good Initiative, a biennial $20,000 award to living artists. As exhibition partner, Carriageworks further invests in a major commission of new work from Dean Cross, the inaugural recipient of the award in 2020.

‘Icarus, my Son’ will be iterated at Carriageworks  5 nov. 2021 - 30 jan. 2022 and this edition will be curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Director of Programs. The edition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery was curated by Gina Mobayed, Director.

Watch Art Collector Pull Focus Jo Higgins in-conversation with Dean Cross here