Perth Voice Interactive

A BIZARRE sight has been greeting dog walkers down at Woodville Reserve in recent weeks, with two women carrying a portable fence while escorting people through the park.

It’s an art project in response to a story the Voice ran (“Pooch and shove,” January 14, 2016) about a bit of biffo down at the reserve. A woman had told us she was made to feel unwelcome by the regular dogwalking clique because her dog was snappy, and a bit of back and forth ended up with her being physically manhandled from the park.

Artists Simone Johnston and Tanya Lee aka ST Team spotted our article and developed the playful response to it.

They’ve been working with a group called International Art Space on a project called “Know thy Neighbour,” a series of arty public “interventions” about public and private space and urban politics. Curious ads have been popping up in the paper over recent months, their little call outs to the community based on something we’ve written.

Ms Lee explains “Pooch and shove was an article which mentioned that Woodville reserve had its own spatial politics–like any public space–sharing with lots of other people and animals can sometimes get problematic.

“So we decided in order to ‘solve’ the issue of badly behaved dogs and having to share the space with lots of other we would offer a dog-walking ferry service.”

They advertised the service in the paper and in nearby letterboxes then headed down to the park to test it out, ferrying people across the park in the high-vis fence structure.

“It was met with lots of laughter and we were delighted that so many dogs and their owners got involved. It was great to see the friendships that have developed there,” Ms Lee says. “Although this work we have been making is humorous we still feel like humour can be used to solve problems by generating discussion in a fun way. We wish the loving community at Woodville reserve and their furry companions all the best!”

As for other projects, keep an eye out for ads in the Voice that seem just a little out of place and follow the clues to see what ST Team is up to next.

by DAVID BELL