Kathrin Longhurst

Indoctrinated

13 May — 22 May 2021

Born 1971, East Berlin
Lives and works in Sydney

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Indoctrinated

In 1961, a wall of concrete and wire appeared on the streets of Berlin. The Soviet-backed regime—The German Democratic Republic (GDR)—constructed it almost overnight to stem the flow of people to the west. The brutalist structure, by design, became an eponymous symbol of social control. The regime was free to indoctrinate generations of its citizens who now lived without easy access to counter-ideologies and cultural influences.

It was in the shadow of the wall that Kathrin Longhurst spent her childhood and where experiences of youth were to be informed by an overtly militarised government. It was a place and time in history where the power of the state was constantly celebrated through the subtle (and, at times, not so subtle) propaganda machine. Through the consistent indoctrination of its people, original thought and independence was curtailed to ensure the longevity of the body politic.

The detritus of the autocratic symbolism that pervaded all corners of her childhood, informs Longhurst as a contemporary painter. In Indoctrinated, Longhurst draws upon her upbringing, delving into her personal family archive while morphing memories of school camps run under military protocols and classrooms where counting was taught by adding and subtracting tanks and soldiers.

For the artist, memory is not always bleak—family and life bring their own colour. Longhurst’s investigation draws on the photography from her personal history alongside some of the more iconic documented moments from post-war Germany. Paintings are reimagined as polaroid images, complete with light bursts disrupting the picture plain—faded splashes of colour that humanise the workers’ utopia. Her painterly interference of the image shines a light on the imperfect notion of memory. It is particularly poignant in the hands of this artist, who has humanised the realities of geopolitical history. The occasional appearance of text locates the imagery in a personal context—the audience becomes active participants in her journey.

Indoctrinated uses the artist’s personal narrative to point us to the broader contemporary social question. She questions the extent and nature of governmental control in a Covid world. Longhurst’s observations of changing narratives and the day-to-day control of society, have reminded her of a time behind the wall. This exhibition is not a sermon, rather, it is a humanist vision of a life that has experienced much—what can be, and what can’t be taken away.

Ralph Hobbs
May 2021

View article about Kathrin Longhurst by Steve Meacham titled Memories of a brainwashed childhoodfeatured in the Sydney Morning Herald (7/5/21), and AGE and online at WA Today

Join us for an Artist Talk in the gallery on Saturday 15 May, 2–3pm — Kathrin Longhust in conversation with Ralph Hobbs.

\ Exhibition featured works

Kathrin Longhurst

Ausflug

2021 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

Baltic Holiday

2020 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

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Kathrin Longhurst

Battle Ready

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 121 x 121cm

Kathrin Longhurst

Berlin 61

2021 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

Kathrin Longhurst

Comrade

2021 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

Defected

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 121 x 121cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

Factory Trained

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 182 x 182cm

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Kathrin Longhurst

Freiluft

2021 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

Kathrin Longhurst

Group Leader

2020 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

Kathrin Longhurst

Loyal Defender

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 121 x 121cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

My Stasi Friend

2020 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

October Song

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 121 x 121cm

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Kathrin Longhurst

Offizier

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 121 x 121cm

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Kathrin Longhurst

Productive Work

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 182 182cm

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Kathrin Longhurst

Sassnitz

2020 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

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Kathrin Longhurst

Sing Mit

2021 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

The Tourists

2021 \ Oil on linen \ 121 x 121cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

Trabant

2020 \ Oil on composite aluminium \ 76 x 61cm

SOLD

Kathrin Longhurst

\ Installation Image

Kathrin Longhurst

\ Installation Image

Kathrin Longhurst

\ Installation image

Kathrin Longhurst

\ Installation image

Kathrin Longhurst

\ Installation image

Kathrin Longhurst

\ Installation image

\ News

Media

Kathrin Longhurst "Memories of a childhood in the shadow of the wall" by Steve Meacham, SMH 07/05/2021

11 May 2021

Journalist Steve Meacham writes about Kathrin Longhurst—her childhood behind the wall in Soviet East Berlin and the memories she draws upon in her latest exhibition, Indoctrinated.

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\ Other exhibitions

Hubert Pareroultja

"When the rain tumbles down in july"

21 March — 6 April 2024

PEOPLE,

Group Exhibition

29 February — 16 March 2024

Jonathan Dalton

MELBOURNE ART FAIR

22 February — 25 February 2024

Contact Us

to find out more about Indoctrinated.

12 - 14 Meagher Street Chippendale, NSW 2008
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday, 9.00am - 5.30pm Saturday, 11am - 4pm Closed Public Holidays (and Easter Saturday)