Goldheist & James Needham

In September 2018 we invited musician GOLDHEIST (aka Hester Fraser) and visual artist James Needham to come together to present REALM at the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre.

Combining their respective artistic practices, Needham painted landscape, as inspired by tour locations, whilst GOLDHEIST provided the soundtrack, fusing her narrative songs with electro-acoustic soundscape. Simultaneously curated and improvisational, this spatially motivated collaborative performance explored the spirit of place, and the different ways our surrounds inspire and impact us.

GOLDHEIST has shared her songs and stories with audiences across metropolitan and regional Australia, telling tales of love, life and adventure, painting vibrant pictures of the Australian bush, current affairs and events. Her most recent performances include a concert for VIVID Festival in 2018 at the Art Gallery of NSW, and the launch of her latest album Realm at the Sydney Opera House in 2017. Her ethos reflects a strong social conscience, with campaigns raising awareness for drought relief and conservation, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, and Suicide Prevention Australia in recent years.

James Needham was born in Rugby, England in 1983 and currently lives and works in Sydney, Australia. He studied at the Oxfordshire College of Art in the UK, graduating with a Diploma in General Art & Design in 2002, as well as holding a Bachelor of Fine Art at Sydney’s National Art School. He received the William Fletcher Foundation grant in 2017, was a semi finalist in the Moran Portrait Prize in 2016. His work draws themes and compositions from the history of art to form a group of works dealing with contemporary life, focusing on direct engagement with people and places. Needham’s influences range from early realists Courbet and Manet, to contemporary artists such as Lucian Freud, Eric Fischl and Liu Xiaodong.