The underlying premise of this exhibition hinges upon a dialogue between disparate artists, united only by the relative remoteness of their geographic location. The aim of the organisers was to elicit an awareness of "subtler levels of difference and commonality" (Sarah Follent, catalogue essay), levels which are easily smothered in discourses between 'regions' and the 'centre'.
It transpires that the show was the offshoot of a seminar on the topic of Regionalism – indeed the catalogue is crowned with a lucid and penetrating commentary on the debate – and was initiated in Townsville by Anne Lord. Being compelled to agree with Sarah Follent that "as a theoretical construct... Regionalism has failed and is nowadays impoverished", one wonders what can be achieved in an exhibition comprising a diverse selection of works by four artists familiar to Darwin audiences, together with contributions from their Townsville and Lismore counterparts. Or, more acutely, one wonders about the title in this context. Are the two terms "outlying" and "far-reaching" here juxtaposed in a poetic vein? Or do they, by embodying a subtle antithesis, intend a serious footnote to the Regionalist debate? In the latter case, Darwin presents a special choice for inclusion.
Territorians living in Darwin have a unique sense of the peripheral nature of their settlement. They do not identify collectively as the region of any centre; the distance separating Darwin from the nearest capital city is greater than that between Darwin and Indonesia. Occupying the narrow fringe of tropical coastline at the northern edge of the desert, their orientation tends to be northward, towards the sun, the ocean and the breezes from the Arafura sea. "Outlying", in this place, is a term carrying