Blog
ARTIST TALK: Exhibits in La Boite's Forecourt
Image of 4 billboards outside with continuous blue and pink abstract art covering all of them.
Markus Ravik
As part of the dhugan installation in La Boite's Forecourt, curated by Blaklash, three artists were commissioned to exhibit their individual works from April to September!
Hear from the artists about their work, including the process, artistic inspiration and its importance.
#Duality
By Rachael Sarra
Who are you? Who is your Mob? Where are you based?
I’m a proud Goreng Goreng woman, based in Ipswich/Brisbane, QLD.
Tell us a bit more about the inspiration behind this work?
Being a proud mixed race Goreng Goreng woman and growing up in Ipswich creates a really unique connection to Country. There is always a duality in my being and identity. Duality explores this connection to country and the connection between my diverse identities.
What is your connection to this work? Why this work now?
This artwork and all of my artworks are deeply connected to my evolving experiences walking in two worlds. As our identities continue to traverse these two-worlds and evolving networks as First Nations people, we are adapting and innovating. We are constantly in a duality with our past and our present.
What do you want the audience to take away?
To embrace and celebrate First Nations culture in an urban setting, but contemplate the often internal friction and duality of walking in Two Worlds.
Describe your practice to date? What are your influences?
My practice is constantly evolving as my experiences change. My work is diverse in its thinking and its application. I am always ‘going in’ with my work and it’s often the exploration of internal conflict or fear that is resolved through my work.
What is the importance of public art in community gathering?
Public art is accessible to everyone. It’s a way for the community to engage in art without any barriers. Aboriginal art specifically plays an important role for the broader community to understand and have a sense of place. Everywhere always has been and always will be Aboriginal land. Public art is a really beautiful way to celebrate our culture.
#Room For Dreaming
By Aurora Liddle-Christie
Who are you? Who is your Mob? Where are you based?
I am a Sovereign woman, artist, granddaughter, daughter, sister, Aunty and friend. On this land I am of the Arrernte people through my grandfather, with ties to Alyawarr through my great grandmother. My lineage also goes back to Nigeria, with tribal connections to the Kikuyu people of Kenya through my father. I am now based on Larrakia country.
Tell us a bit more about the inspiration behind this work?
I used the theme of Brisbane Writers Festival, in which it was first presented to stimulate my writing. I asked, ‘what does it mean to have room for dreaming?’ - unpacking dreaming through the interconnectedness of creation and our ability to create alongside it whilst being apart of it.
What is your connection to this work? Why this work now?
It is simply an expression of my experience. An expression of my world view and way of being passed down from my Ancestors. It’s important to remember how much we’re a part of the whole. Through this understanding, we can make decisions that are better for the land, waters, animals and our children.
What do you want the audience to take away?
Whatever they feel is true from the experience of the work.
Describe your practice to date? What are your influences?
My Practice began with theatre and poetry and has branched out into other forms such as music and playwriting. My influences are my Ancestors, my family, my country, black and First Nations Women. These things are what guide my practice.
What is the importance of public art in community gathering?
It reminds us that we are creative beings, that our lives are an expression of creation and within it we can create ourselves. What a wonderful thing! It reminds us of that which is not physical, energy, emotions, spirit manifested into form.
#Power Is In The Details
By Sam Harrison
Who are you? Who is your Mob? Where are you based?
I am a visual artist and curator. I have family connections to Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri Mobs in central NSW but live and work in Brisbane, QLD.
Tell us a bit more about the inspiration behind this work?
My two works are a part of a larger series titled Power is in the Details. This series is a response to Richard Lewer’s artwork, The History of Australia, in which the artist attempts to capture Australia’s history across 9 panels. My immediate reaction to the work was to notice the lack of references to existing and ground-breaking education resources created by Indigenous teachers and authors.
What is your connection to this work? Why this work now?
Gold Rush X Slave Trade and Black Line X Emu War talk to two points in history where I see a fallacy in the Australian Identity.
In Gold Rush X Slave Trade, we look back on the gold rush as our version of the ‘American Dream’. This period is used as proof of the bountiful and ‘untapped’ wealth of the land. However, the dark reality of this time was the introduction of opium through Chinese immigrants as a means of slavery by Western land and business owners, who intentionally got Indigenous workers addicted to the substance, which was then used as payment instead of wages or rations.
In Black Line X Emu War, I wanted to explore and compare the pop cultural references of the 1932 failed culling of emus by the Australian Military to the black line massacre of Aboriginal communities in Tasmania in 1830. Just separated by two years, I find the Australian vernacular of choosing to refer to the emu war as a ‘war’ and the black line as a ‘massacre’ very telling of the lack of respect held for human lives within colonial ideologies.
What do you want the audience to take away?
There is great importance in the telling of Australian history by Indigenous voices. It’s vital to healing and reconciliation. Regardless of one’s background, these stories enlighten our understanding of human nature and ground our sense of belonging in our community and our history. Indigenous storytellers are the best in the world and the simple act of being curious and listening will inevitably end in a positive way.
Describe your practice to date? What are your influences?
Most of my works are a combination of lived experience and historical reference. My family is in the process of reconnecting, both physically and culturally; this process is rewarding and incredibly draining. Art was never something that I chose to do, but was something I inevitably ended up doing as it facilitated this process.
What is the importance of public art in community gathering?
The definition of community is the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common. How else are we meant to find out what we have in common unless we show up and share our stories?
