TWIST

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

9 June – 22 October 2023

There’s a lot of obvious aspects to Twist that make it stand out as a TMAG show, but it’s the premise and execution of that premise that really took my breath away. Twist starts with, apparently, the works of Charles Dickens, and while that may seem a bit twee, it’s far from being so: Dickens had immediate concerns with social justice and class issues, and while his take on those complex things are reflections of his era, the issues themselves still exist, and this is the point: Twist is about class and class divides, about the widening chasm between social strata, and that could not be more relevant right now, just as it was then, and the greater question that arises from that observation is, then, what has changed?

This is one question Twist seems to be asking, but it’s not the only conundrum being posed.