Underbelly Festival 2010

The project I developed for Underbelly was related to the Filling the Cracks brief by Reefknot to produce public artworks in and for the vacant spaces on Kensington St. Living in a similarly old brick terrace on George St in Redfern gave me a feel for life on the inside of these tightly clustered homes and I frequently visited the site to explore the atmosphere of the buildings and the street and to find possible locations for my work. The idea I developed was in response to former inhabitants and workers in the terraces and factories, finding traces and stories of the lives and activities that had gone on there.
I focused on the idea that the terrace row was entirely vacant and had been locked up and unused for years, and then decided to use the doors as the basis for my explorations and subsequent work. As audience interaction is a key element of public art, I considered the role of the viewer by imagining and documenting various views through the little one-way spy holes which are on most of the front doors along the street, cracks below blinds and letterbox openings. I took photos through these 'cracks' as view finders/ frames and used them as a motif to suggest portals into the interior worlds of the different houses.
I appreciated the opportunity to share a studio space in '104 Nevermore' with the other artists involved in Filling the Cracks as it was open for several evenings to the public we also had interactions with the public. On one tour of the building I met a previous inhabitant, an artist who had owned of one of the neighbouring terraces. We had a moving conversation with her about the process of eviction, holding on as long as possible to her home and eventual settlement and removal of a lifetime's worth of possessions, memories and dreams. Michele an Al from Reefknot facilitated this kind of dialogue between the artists and the public- artists briefs were displayed on the walls and textas and butcher's paper were provided for people to define public art and write down ideas.

Fortunately Alex Davies took some shots of my works installed during the festival. Check them out in my flickr favourites...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59171532@N06/favorites/