The start to 2015’s exhibition and studio installations at Jugglers Art Space are following themes of justice, personal grief , expressions of aboriginal response to Australia Day and “selfie” narratives. They have highlighted new innovative skills in paint making and application, a return to “old fashioned” polaroid pictures and works informed by disciplined architectural design. The White Silence experiment into improvisational response, epiphany and collaboration continues to find its way in the maze.
The collapse of the back wall at Jugglers during the November 2014 super cell hail storm delivered bits of wall fibro with 10 + years of aerosol layers attached, silently telling stories of artists and this little outdoor public self managed studio. The layers of improvised works, filmed pieces, tentative throw ups by beginners and the more mature writer had hardened and disappeared under multi coloured layers, but left behind a raw industrial and jagged beauty.
First Marks by First Australians. Back space studio January 31, Feb 1 , 2015
The rebuilding of the wall begged for a symbolic act to celebrate and connect with what had gone before and to draw a line in the sand in respect of what the Jugglers’ vision has been about around graffiti and street art. It has always been about this space being safe for freedom of artistic expression as we have attempted to validate graffiti as legitimate art and aerosol as a valid medium. The first plans were to have young writers apply some ” throw ups” in recognition of our commitment to them but when I had a request from Libby Harward [ Creative Director at Creative Inclusive] for her mob to paint in the space on Australia Day [Invasion Day] it was a “no-brainer”. A female indigenous graffiti writer making marks as a first Australian with her mob on a white fella’s wall on Australia Day had a powerful symbolism about it. Due to rain and final building requirements, the event was postponed until the following week [January 31] on the day of the Queensland state Election and a change of Government was the outcome. The whole weekend was full of joy, camaraderie and heat in a celebration of art, aboriginal first nation mark making and a new start for Juggler’s vision.
TAFE show #1 February 15, 2015
“Badass Chicken” paint and ink on board. TAFE #1 Show Alexandre Freitas
I have been struck by the standard of work and strong narrative lines running through the works in the first three exhibitions in the downstairs gallery space at 103 Brunswick Street in 2015. From stories of suicide, parental death, and aboriginal activism to experiments with paint making, the artists have attempted some tough topics and in some cases it seems, used the walls as text free therapy sessions. The only way to approximate some kind of understanding is to take time with the work and artist, as if that’s not a given. I find that in the rush and pressure of organising, meaning can be too superficial. Overhearing conversations during hanging of the work enlighten knowing.
White Silence installation [January 30, 2015]
“White Silence is an ongoing group exercise at Jugglers where invited artists collaborate on an interpretive response to a controlled environment of selected music and silence, usually in one of the Jugglers exhibition spaces. This is done without any verbal communication between participants. The idea is borrowed from the mystics across a range of spiritual traditions in an attempt to also create a crucible for possible moments of inexplicable presence, new understandings and epiphany. We encourage the use of these videos for private reflection and contemplation.” This White Silence [installation pictured above] involved using music as a kind of scene setting device sliding seamlessly into silence as the three [male]participants used the time through mindfulness, clay sculptural activity and drawing to find a “conversation” that once again held moments of mystery. This format will be followed in White Silence in 2015.
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