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In Cahoots: artists collaborate across Country (Fremantle Arts Centre)

by
ABR Arts 05 December 2017

In Cahoots: artists collaborate across Country (Fremantle Arts Centre)

by
ABR Arts 05 December 2017

The map of In Cahoots is a tracery of journeys made by road and air, like songlines traversing the continent, speaking to points of departure, conjunction, and communion, and to the central theme of the project: communication.

Involving six Aboriginal art centres partnered with five individual artists and one collaborative duo, each artist and community presents a singular set of issues, not merely dealing with the logistics of distance and accessibility, but also bridging vast cultural differences.

The main wall of the Tony Albert (Queensland/New South Wales) and Warakurna Artists (Western Australia) installation is hung with a colourful array of figures, from hovering helicopters to camels, trucks, donkeys, children and footballers, houses, babies, musical instruments, a bride and groom; the full panoply of community life fashioned from painted, rusty tin, a joyful testament to Albert’s engagement and inclusiveness. Individually, these pieces seem naïve; together they make a coherent whole. On the remaining walls hang vibrant photographs from the Warakurna Superheroes series: children dressed as their favourite superhero, in costumes handmade from recycled materials, pose flamboyantly atop the rusting hulks of abandoned cars and farm equipment.

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