It's been many months, a few anxiety attacks and countless meetings (telephone, office and site inspections) but my exhibition is nearly done. Today, a minor triumph as the photos went to the printers and were accepted! I'm a Photoshop newbie and had to text my designer of a brother for advice on how best to save (Tiff and 300 dpi! he said) and size images. There was a whole load of math in it at one point, which was very overwhelming.
The project I've been working on is actually one that was originally intended as a zine. The idea was pretty simple - I'd lived and grown up in this neigbourhood and was always curious about certain people and places that had become fixtures of the area. People who lived there knew about them, about the mysterious blue shopfront window that revealed itself as a cakeshop after about 5 years of trade and the roundabout that is actually in the shape of a peanut for no good reason. I wanted to know more about these things, how they came to be, an explanation of sorts but also an invitation for residents to become more curious about their surroundings.
It was actually based on a column I used to write when interning in Seoul, South Korea that was called '
A Glimpse of Seoul.' As a tourist, who didn't speak a word of Korean, it was incredibly difficult to pen an article each week about a quirky happening or person. I did manage to make friends with a basketball cheerman but the rest was pretty tough going. My aim, having come from a history and media major, was to investigate in a highly accessible way, how geographical spaces become felt places, where feelings of belonging and pride begin to emerge.
How this transformed from a zine idea into a Council funded project was all a bit of an accident. A good buddy of mine, illustrator
Matt Huynh had done a few similar story-telling micro history projects with the support of his council (Fairfield and Cabramatta seem to be very supportive) and he encouraged me to see if I could get some help. So I wrote up a proposal, having never written one in my life - that broke my idea down to synposis, motivation and expected outcomes. I had done a little bit of research into the Council's aims in the arts area and tried to do a bit of match up. I also trawled through their site until I found the contact details of the Arts and Culture Development Officer.
It wasn't immediate but things started unfolding slowly. I was contacted and guided into rewriting my proposal complete with a quote, take out arts insurance (in case any of my interviewees tripped or something) and start work. It was so cool when I got my first advance! I just liked the terminology, it made me feel legitimate about what I'm most interested in doing. It was awesome to be paid to hang out with people, take their pictures and find out their story. In the process I spent time with everyone from the local baker, an award-winning primary school aerobics instructor, who at 50 put my flexibility to shame and the softly spoken toy librarian at the local library who went through all the possible learning benefits from toys.
The op shop ladies were my favourite. They were generous with their time, funny, thoughtful and delightfully anachronistic. Though they made me eat this chocolate coated biscuit that the cat licked because they didn't want it to go to waste. That was gross.
I'd encourage anyone to approach a Council directly and ask for funding. There weren't any grants going at my local Council so I didn't bother waiting. I also think that people appreciate it if you are quite forward, they usually call it 'initiative' and know exactly why you want to do what you're proposing.
I learnt a lot accidentally. About boring but important practical things like invoicing and accomodating the Council's needs, especially when the invitations went out and the formalities are being finalised. It is difficult not having complete ownership of a project, I struggled with that at times but am thankful that at the end of the day, there is someone to pay my printing bills so I have have big shiny mounted photos and have access to a space and an audience during exhibition that I probably wouldn't have ordinarily.
This will also be my first solo show and my first chance to work one on one with a curator.
Tony Curran is curating the show and faced a very difficult task of making me realise that my aesthetically 'perfect' design for the exhibition (cramming everything into one room to give it a sense of organised clutter and overwhemling community) was not practical for the audience and didn't allow the project to be viewed in a way that focused on the writing as well as the photographs.
And Maxine McKew is coming! The project was also produced in direct response to the 2007 Federal election, in which my neighbourhood became the site of a very significant campaign between the standing Prime Minister and a newbie. The campaigning was aggressive and sparked so much excitement amongst the community and this was my way, after the media hype had died down to remind everyone that they existed as a local community before they were localised into a political one.
Come along if you're free, the show opens 25 March 2009 at Brush Farm House, 19 Lawson street Eastwood. Opening starts at 6.30pm and the show is open until April 2.
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