TWIST

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) enchanted readers while exploring issues such as crime and punishment, the dire impact of poverty on women and children, and the grim conditions in public institutions such as orphanages, prisons and workhouses. He was as fascinated by the people and social interactions in the far-flung colonies as he was in those of the dirty streets on London.Many of his characters were transported or immigrated to Australia.

Dickens was so popular in Van Diemen’s Land that Henry Dowling published bootleg copies of his first novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in Launceston in 1838, just one year after Chapman and Hall published the original in instalments in London. 

This TMAG exhibition curated by Mary Knights brings together artwork by exceptional Australian and Irish artists to engage with Dickensian themes – with a quirky and contemporary twist. 

The TWIST catalogue includes texts by Mary Knights, Rodney Croome, Nicholas Folland, Julie Gough, Fiona Hall, David Hansen, Jonathan Holmes, Sue Kneebone, Yhonnie Scarce.

100 pages, soft cover

Soft cover