Emmaline Zanelli, Magic Cave (detail), 2024. Courtesy the artist.

Emmaline Zanelli

Magic Cave

Gallery 3

Roomsheet

Magic Cave grew from research Emmaline Zanelli began in early 2023 into the social culture and family dynamics surrounding the mining industry in South Australia, with a focus on youth. This sculpture responds specifically to Roxby Downs, a remote town 600km North of Tarndanya (Adelaide). Established in 1988 on Kokatha Country, Roxby Downs is a purpose-built community founded to service BHP’s Olympic Dam mine.

Over the course of several research trips to Roxby, Emmaline conducted a series of workshops with young people from 4-18 years old; these sessions included filming, sound recording, and creative writing. Influenced by the young people she met and their interests, Magic Cave is an absurdist fantasy interpretation of life underground. Combining feelings of doom and play, materials that are reminiscent of childhood joy also speak to confinement, confusion and entanglement. How can the work of a family member shape the lives of the entire family?

The use of mouse, bird, rat, rabbit, guinea pig, cat, hermit crab and dog cages is influenced by the presence of exotic pets in Roxby, including macaws, scorpions, a hairless cat, snakes, and barking geckos. But it also reflects on what it means to possess something precious, and how the personal and domestic are inextricably enmeshed within much broader social systems of economy, labour and value.

The co-facilitators on these youth workshops were Liam Somerville, Thomas McCammon, Autumn Royal, Benen Hamon, Katrina Penning, and Eloise Fuss. This project is closely connected to a short film Emmaline is currently developing, and her research has been supported by the University of South Australia Samstag Museum and the Adelaide Film Festival EXPAND Lab commission fund.

Presented by Firstdraft in partnership with Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) Gallery.