For the last 18 years, SWELL has been a landmark festival of the arts and one that the Gold Coast should be immensely proud of. If you’ve been before, you’ll know how crazily good it is to wander along a pristine patch of sand such as Currumbin Beach and take in some incredible sculptures of varying sizes and shapes by artists from not just Australia but from all over the globe.

Meander between towering art pieces at dawn with a coffee in hand or sit in the dune grass as the afternoon light fades and marvel at the smallest of details. This unique annual festival is truly a one-off and rightly holds the title of Queensland’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition.

This year’s festival is more significant than ever, with additional sites of Northerly Swell at Helensvale Cultural Precinct, Westerly Swell at Mudgeeraba and Lower Beechmont, and Easterly Swell on Chevron Island. There is also an additional fringe festival with events being held at Currumbin’s Dust Temple and a jam-packed program of events for all ages running from 10-19 September that must be seen to be believed!

Here is our rundown of the pieces that caught our eye, and the selections you have to see when you head down to the festival.

#Lifetime — Hooman Jaffar, Taylah Jardine, Owen Thompson 
If you don’t rush this piece and study it carefully, you’ll notice the incredible attention to detail and nuances, like the twelve outer vertical sticks representing a clock face. The exhibit also features mirror pieces in the interior that are precisely positioned to reflect off one another. Put yourself in the right spot, and you can take in an eternal reflection as the majority of the piece looms above you.

Industrial Wildflowers — Carolyn Donovan
This colourful pillar of industrial chic is sure to grab your attention. Contrasting with the creamy white sand, this vibrant splash of colours is meant to depict the balance of nature with our industrial progress. The installation uses discarded and recycled metal containers and promises to reveal different details with the ever-changing light of the day.

Reflection — Dion Parker
Local guy Dion has created himself quite the following with his famous muse Lil Dusty over the years. You’ll find him in all sorts of mediums and always up to something different yet fun. For those who know Currumbin beachfront, you’ll find this piece by the Sun Spirit sunbathing lady statue by Frank Miles; this statue ten years ago encouraged Dion to enter his very first exhibit — and since then, he hasn’t looked back.

Brain Freeze — Jen Mallinson
With the Surfers Paradise skyline in the foreground, these shiny metallic pieces capture your attention straight away. The message though behind this piece is quite profound. Artist Jen Mallinson aims to bring awareness to brain coral: a particularly robust coral with the capacity to regenerate. She hopes the piece will show hope for our dying coral reefs and bring recognition to their plight.

Whale Playground — Sam Gowing
As well as being a talented artist, Sam is also a massive admirer of whales and often spends a considerable amount of her spare time logging whale behaviour around our coastline. This piece depicts five separate whales in a series of passing moments, bringing their interaction with us from the faraway ocean to right in front of us on the beach.

Passing Through — Rae Saheli
Palm Beach local Rae uses a unique piece of equipment to make these distinct aluminium pillars: a 12-gauge shotgun! A highly experienced clay pigeon shooter, she decided that she could create something special by combining her love for art and her passion for shooting. And we can’t argue with that! The pieces are reflective of the patterns left behind on the shoreline from the ocean, with each bullet hole diffusing light in different ways.

Sway — Shiloh Perry
With a collective total of 1500 folded paper cranes on cane sticks, this piece appears to be flowing and moving like a flock of birds or an ocean wave. Inspiration comes from an old Japanese legend that says if you fold 1000 paper cranes, you can be granted a wish.  The artist has focused more on the viewer’s interaction and experience around the piece, not how it should be perceived.

Where: Currumbin Beach, Currumbin
Hours: 10th — 19th September

Words by Alex Mitcheson.

It’s the moment the arts community, and indeed the public of the Gold Coast have been waiting a little while for (drum roll) the shiny new Home of the Arts (HOTA) Gallery is now open! And what a great complement to an already incredible arts precinct this is going to be!

While the tickets to access the gallery this weekend were already sold out, the opening weekend is set to make you excited. There will be artworks both indoors and out that celebrate the diversity, richness and ambition of the Gold Coast. Coinciding with live music across both the Saturday and Sunday daytimes, the experience — even for those without access to the gallery (for now) — is set to be a great one-off experience still.

On Saturday 8th May, the music program will serve as a vibrant soundtrack to the buzz of excitement and anticipation at the Gallery and its surroundings. Music will kick off from 11am to 3.30pm with a line up on the Outdoor Stage featuring the fiery instrumentation from Hussy Hicks, dreamy psych-pop from Echo Wave, the colourful sounds of Samba, Bossa Nova from Augusta Street, the hip hop and traditional rhythms from young First Nations band, Jarulah and Blackline Band and the funky, disco vibes from DJ Felix.

On Sunday 9th May, you’re encouraged to experience ‘Echoes of Gold’, featuring performances by: Eliza & The Delusionals, Donny Love, DENNIS. and DJ sets by VICES to name a few. All hosted by Kate Baggerson and Zac Fahey, with live on-stage interviews with artists, musos, and industry movers & shakers, the line-up will be nothing short of exciting.

And to amplify that local Gold Coast flavour, even more, The Design Collective Markets will be on-site showcasing a selection of Gold Coast and Queensland artisan makers and retailers for a pop-up market of boutique wares and gifts! Not forgetting the mix of food trucks/outlets, local beers, it’s lining up to be solid Sunday in our eyes. On a picnic blanket or standing with a cold one in hand — either way, it’s an unmissable Gold Coast event.

If you did secure tickets to the opening, in the opening exhibition, titled Solid Gold: Artists from Paradise, be sure to keep an eye out for local artist Aaron Chapman’s inclusion — we have it on good authority it will be big and bright! You simply can’t miss it.

Internationally, the Contemporary Masters from New York: Art from the Mugrabi Collection exhibition (13 November 2021 – 27 February 2022) will be showcased in the new 1000m² main exhibition gallery a stunning space featuring approximately 70 works from some of the world’s most influential contemporary artists including Andy Warhol.

And if you decide to hold off on visiting the Gallery until after Friday 14th May, you can then check out the incredible new Palette Restaurant and Exhibitionist Bar. Both of which where you will find deftly put-together food and tantalising cocktails await with enigmatic views of our skyline and hinterland.

The Gold Coast art scene is set to flourish, folks!

Where: HOTA, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise
When: Opening weekend – Saturday 8 May & Sunday 9 May 2021

Words by Alex Mitcheson.

He’s known the world over for his stunning surf and nature photography and we Gold Coasters are lucky enough to claim him as our own.

We sat down for a chat with Sean about his recent run in with an Iceland snow storm and why he thinks our beaches are some of the most beautiful he’s ever seen (and he’s seen them all).

How long have you been a Gold Coast local?
I was born in Cairns and moved here when I was six and I’m 42 now, so 36 years, definitely a local.

You’ve travelled all over the world, what’s so unique about the Coast to you?
I’ve always loved the beaches, love to surf, love the southern end of the Coast, Burleigh and the community feeling here. It’s a little town within a city. You can still get away, go 30 minutes south and still have beaches to yourself and out into the rainforest. There’s a bit of everything here, it’s not too quiet, not too busy.

Is there a place here that never fails to produce a beautiful shot for you?
Burleigh cove is one place I always go, usually at sunrise. When I come home, I love getting down there because it just makes me feel back at home. I do a lot of stuff in the water at home, with the right conditions, getting out at Kirra and Snapper; you can always get beautiful clear water, It’s some of the clearest water in the world out there. You go to the Maldives and Tahiti but if you go to Kirra on those nice clear days, it’s as good as it gets anywhere. Those places never seem to fail to produce.

How often do you spend at home vs. away?
I never used to go away as much but I’ve been getting heaps of work for social media stuff, so the last two or three years I’ve spent maybe half the time away, which is a bit harder with the family. They usually fly in and meet me for school holidays and what not.

How did your photography career come about?
I worked on the Gold Coast for 11 years as an electrician for Energex and I used to take photos then and sell my work at the local markets. I did that while I worked full-time and opened my first little gallery in the arcade in Burleigh while I worked. I had a little one in Surfers Paradise too. Eventually the galleries and markets took off enough that I stepped out of my full-time job and stepped into photography. I made an easy progression and was able to continue making a living out of it.

Where do you find inspiration?
That’s the one thing I struggle with nowadays. Back when I first started, there was no Instagram or Facebook, I used the web a little bit and I didn’t buy a lot of magazines, so I didn’t really see much. You just went out with fresh eyes and saw things, now you’ve got the world’s best photographer sitting in your hand putting photos up every 30 minutes. Trying to filter that out and not copy stuff but keep original is something that still tricks me in my mind. I still love nothing more than when I’m finding new locations, even though it won’t be a location that no one’s ever seen before, to me it’s new. That’s when I seem to turn on my creativeness and photograph things the way I want to see them. When I was in Iceland, I would come across scenes that I’d seen from famous photographers and wish I hadn’t seen the photos but normally I move through it and find things I haven’t seen before.

Do you have a personal favourite shot of the thousands you’ve taken?
I change all the time. The popular ones aren’t always my favourites; I love the abstract ones more and the artistic style of shot. There’s one of the Golden Girl at Noosa surfing on a wave I’ve always liked.

How do you feel when you know you’ve absolutely nailed the shot?
With digital now it’s easy because you look at the back of the camera and have a bit of an idea but it still does trick you. Sometimes you think you’re nailing it and you get back and you’re disappointed and sometimes it’s the opposite way. When things really turn on and everything comes together, like if you’re chasing surf and ocean photos you’ve got to have the storm brew so a huge swell comes, the waters got to be clear, the winds got to be the right way, you’ve got to be in the right spot, when all that happens at once you get a bit of a feeling and that’s when I’m usually excited to race back and quickly look at them. If I don’t come back and look at them straight away, it’s usually a sign it wasn’t that special.

Your most memorable trips or somewhere you always love to visit?
I’ve been doing lots of Western Australia lately, which I’ve been loving. Iceland was pretty up there, I did Iceland, Greenland and Norway in the one trip. That was pretty wild with huge storms and icebergs. I was on my own driving through the snowstorms and almost getting blown off the road trying to take photos. It was epic though.

Any close encounters with Mother Nature in your time?
At one stage in Iceland I was standing on top of a cliff and the wind was blowing that hard it was sliding me along the ice so I had to scramble back to the car and leave. Obviously there’s quite often animals in the water, big shapes swim past and things like that. Big surf is always a bit tricky when the waves come and break right on your head and knock you around.

What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?
It’s a tricky one. If you’re doing it because you love it, it’s easy. It’s hard to just decide you want to be a photographer and that’s all you want to be. I started by being an electrician and kept this on the side so I had income coming in that I could put towards better gear. Don’t just do it for the likes and the follows, do it because you love it and the rest will come. There are a lot of people who try to do it for fame but if you love it, it will work naturally. Taking photos-wise, my biggest tip is to be in the right place at the right time, you’ve always got to be out looking. You start to get in tune with it but you’ve always got to be out. You’re not going to get a great sunrise at Burleigh if you’re sleeping in six days of the week. If you get a few bad ones, you know a good one is coming and when everything comes together that’s when you get that feeling that keeps you going and searching for the next one.

Anything exciting in the works for the rest of the year?
I’ve got the Maldives, which is a surf comp I’ve shot for the last seven years, in two weeks. I’ve got a trip to Switzerland, hiking through mountains up the top and then I’ve got a trip to Canada where I’ll be shooting the polar bears. Then I’ve got a festival at Moreton Island with Canon that I’m doing at the end of the year. Hopefully a lot of locals will come there and do a lesson.

Best piece of life advice?
There’s a few I always try to run by. One is always expect the behaviour you tolerate, if you tolerate people not treating you well, expect to be treated like that. Keep an open mind and get out there and stay positive and things seem to flow.

Being a Gold Coast local we have to ask your favourites…
Beach: Kirra
Café: I like Canteen and Nook at Burleigh for a coffee
Restaurant: I love Etsu
Weekend hang: Probably the beaches from Burleigh to Coolangatta