An exhibition at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery is enjoying a surge in popularity online thanks to the popular social media app, TikTok.
After a month in darkness due to COVID-19 restrictions, STILL: National Still Life Award 2021 is celebrating its reopening to gallery visitors in person, while TikTok is delivering a whole new, younger audience online through Still Sundays, Coffs Harbour City Council said in a statement today.
25-year-old Art Historian and TikTok sensation, Mary McGillivray (pictured, main photo), has attracted millions of views worldwide through her social media channel @_theiconoclass. Now teaming up with Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Mary is presenting Still Sundays, a series of 10 1-minute videos, unpacking still life art and works in the Gallery’s current exhibition.
Gallery Curator, Chloe Waters (pictured, below) is thrilled with the reaction so far, with episode 4 alone approaching a massive 1 million views (875K and climbing). The video reveals Jacob Canet-Gibson’s work Seven Eight Two, a stack of 782 A4 pages printed with code correlating to a digital camera capturing an image.
“In the gallery you may have walked past this seemingly simple work, yet it is the one that has sparked an enormous response online,” said Chloe.
“Whether you like the artwork or not, it has provoked a reaction and opened up a dialogue, and that’s what still life and art does.”
“We are making conversations about art more accessible to a younger audience who aren’t normally in our reach, sparking their curiosity and a feeling that galleries are a place for them to visit.”
Mary says the online space plays a pivotal role in connecting artists, artworks and the community, and the STILL artworks are lucky to get two lives: one in the gallery and a second, wider-reaching life online.
“It’s an honour to play a part in bringing STILL to a wider, international audience on TikTok, and show the youth-dominated user-base that still life artworks are exciting, meaningful and relevant to our lives in 2021,” she said.
“STILL 2021 has opened my eyes to the world of still life artworks that contemporary Australian artists have to offer.”
Watch Still Sundays on TikTok and IGTV with new episodes every Sunday until October 17. Take the STILL 3D Tour and vote in the People’s Choice Award at: www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/still
The STILL 2021 exhibition is now open at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery until 23 October.
