Tantramar: The Eight Legs of Life
Tamara Henderson

In her sec­ond solo exhi­bi­tion at PALAS, Tama­ra Hen­der­son presents Tantra­mar: The Eight Legs of Life, an evolv­ing body of work first devel­oped for War­rnam­bool Art Gallery.

Expand­ing her mytho­log­i­cal lex­i­con, Hen­der­son revis­its the recur­ring fig­ures of Sound Shep­ard and Sun­spi­der, and unearths their alchem­i­cal coun­ter­part, Wiseguide. Embody­ing the tantric dual­i­ties of move­ment and still­ness, these cos­mic com­pan­ions drift through a ter­rain where sculp­ture, paint­ing, and sound sway togeth­er in a hyp­not­ic groove.

In dia­logue with the unseen sys­tems of life, rhythm, and trans­for­ma­tion, Hen­der­son evokes a dense, fer­tile murk — a sus­tain­ing ground that holds her nar­ra­tive and nour­ish­es the evolv­ing ecosys­tem of sculp­ture, paint­ing, and sound. This con­ver­gence of forms and fig­ures points toward the qui­et play of mys­tery and form that cours­es through her prac­tice — and toward Mar, the sea that car­ried them all here.

- Julia Dunne