Inflatables and billboards bring art to locked-down city
The art world is finding new ways to bring work to the public, with one piece emblazoned on a giant billboard this week in St Kilda and a series of portable and playful inflatables commissioned.
'Never alone' by artist Kent Morris, a digital billboard on St Kilda’s intersection between Grey and Fitzroy Streets. Credit:Andrew Curtis
Kent Morris created a piece with the words "Never alone" overlaid over one of his photos, a bright blue and yellow geometric image inspired by the heron he sees on his walks through Elwood in Yaluk-ut Weelam country.
A Melbourne-based artist and descendant of the Barkindji people of north-western NSW, Morris is a finalist in the prestigious NATSIAA Awards and head of The Torch, a program for Indigenous people in prison which helps them reconnect with their culture through art.
The work's message comes as Victorians reel in the latest stage of lockdown. Morris says Never alone references the First Nations cultural concept of the interconnectedness of all things: people, plants, animals, landforms and celestial bodies. It was constructed from a single photograph taken while walking around his neighbourhood, often at night.
His art often features birds. "Native birds are our ancestors, protectors, guides and messengers, offering a cyclical time continuum and a connection to deep time knowledge and experience,” Morris said.
Sitting above the busy intersection of Grey and Fitzroy streets in St Kilda, the billboard is shown for one minute every three minutes, alongside advertisements. It is the first in an occasional series of off-site projects to be launched as part of the ACCA exhibition, Who’s Afraid of Public Space?
Steven Rhall's Air Dancer as Black Body, Bad Boi Edition at Dark Mofo in 2019Credit:Dark Mofo / Jesse Hunniford
ACCA's artistic director/CEO Max Delany says the piece reflects Morris's interest in countering the lack of Indigenous cultural representation in the built environment and that its geographical location is also significant, sitting between two sites of importance to First Nations people, the corroboree tree at St Kilda Junction and Cleve Gardens.
In another COVID-inspired innovation, seven artists have been commissioned to create inflatable artworks for Conflated. The series is the brainchild of artist Zoe Bastin and director of National Exhibitions Touring Support Victoria (NETS), who wanted to explore how artists could conflate new ideas with sculptures, performances and installations that are blown up.
The works, by Amrita Hepi, Bronwyn Hack, Christopher Langton, Eugenia Lim, James Nguyen, Steven Rhall and Bastin, will address regeneration, social distancing, environment and connection and will be displayed across Victoria (exact locations to be revealed).