Alex White — Shelter
Printmaker Alex White is a relatively new Handmark discovery. And his second outing for the Gallery is another homage to Tasmania’s iconic mountain huts.
Last April Alex had two works in the Emerging Artist Exhibition. One year later, 16 of his striking black and white prints are being showcased in his Shelter exhibition. “This is beyond all my expectations,” he says. “Again, I am inspired by the old high-country huts that provided shelter to hunters, stockmen and trekkers.”
Most of Alex’s huts are in the ruggedly remote Central Highlands. But in this exhibition, he also ventures closer to home, to Sama Hut on Mt Wellington/Kunyani, “a very unusual ‘A’ frame structure clad in corrugated iron, which according to local legend was carted up from Glenorchy.”
In another work, Alex takes us inside Sama Hut where a kettle, frypans and an old billy hang above an old stone fireplace immediately enveloping us with a feeling of comfort and safety. “These shelters are part of our history, but just a few remain. I am on a mission to document as many as I can before they are lost forever.”
Alex’s Shelter opens at Handmark this Friday 4 April at 5pm and continues until 27 April.
Image credit: Alex White, Sama Hut II, 2025, linocut, edition of 8, 40 x 32 cm