NGARINYIN/GIJA artist Vanessa Russ is the first Aboriginal director of the 40-year-old Berndt Museum.
The museum features a large collection of Aboriginal artifacts rated by UNESCO as Australian Memory of the World.
Dr Russ grew up in the Kimberley, where she experienced Aboriginal art firsthand in rock paintings and craft objects.
She moved to Sydney where, studying for a degree in fine arts at the University of NSW, she “fell in love with the arts”.
• Dr Vanessa Russ with art from the Berndt Museum’s collection. Photo supplied
Finishing her degree, she worked at the Art Gallery of NSW before coming back to Perth to study for her PhD at UWA.
In 2014 Dr Russ was one of 13 Western Australians selected for a Churchill Fellowship, which allowed her to travel the globe investigating the effects of national identity of indigenous people in mainstream art museums.
She says her main duty as a director is to ensure the Berndt collection survives at least another 40 years: she will also use the opportunity to raise broader, important questions regarding Aboriginal people and their place in the national identity.
“I’m quite excited with my new role,” she says. “It is only a collection. But there is also an opportunity in the collection to put up some interesting ideas and see what people have to say.
“People don’t want to talk about the fact that we are a colonised country, but some people experience that they are in a colonised country.
“It’s an opportunity to talk about place, and self-determination.”
COMICS and novels have more in common than you’d think at first glance, curator of Comic Tragics at the WA Art Gallery Robert Cook says.
“It’s just a different way of telling stories. Novelists use words to evoke images and comics go one step further.”
Pictures are the craft of the comic writer, but the gap between each panel play a part, Cook says.
“The gap is where you create the image in your mind as well.”
The exhibition’s 150 images are not the stuff of Marvel or DC Comics super heroes, but about everyday mundane life: “[Whether] tragic or melancholy [they] start to become about the human condition,” Cook says.
“[The works] reflect individual obsessions and introspection, underscored with the anxieties and paradoxes of modern life – it is darkly intriguing and wonderfully touching.”
The images create landscapes of the mind, Cook says: “[That] is part of the pleasure…You are going on a journey to different lands.”
• Works in the Comic Tragics exhibition by UK artists Stephen Collins (top two) and Emma Talbot
Nine contemporary comic artists were chosen for the exhibition, and Emma Talbot and Stephen Collins, from the UK, Aisha Franz (Germany), the US’ Ron Regé junior, Anders Nilsen, John Porcellino, Gabrielle Bell, Dash Shaw, and Australia’s Tommi Parrish, are considered some of the best in the world.
Comics have shifted from “the ghetto”, or something just for kids, to that of art, Cook says: “They are powerfully resonating artworks. The works speak to people and have a unique level of sophistication – and it just happened they are comic-type people.”
The exhibition pushes the idea of comics in new, and confronting ways, changing the way people think about them, Cook says.
“You will walk two steps in [to the exhibition]…and will see it as art work.”
Comic Tragics was exclusively curated for WA audiences, and is aimed at showing the way art is developing and shifting, director Stefano Carboni says. “We are inviting our audiences to see things differently. One aspect of this…is to curate exhibitions that inspire visitors with their presentations of different directions that art forms are taking.”
The free exhibition is on at the WA Art Gallery until June 25.
MORE than 60 new and emerging Aboriginal artists were enjoying a barbecue on the lawns of the Fremantle Arts Centre last week, having arrived from some of WA’s most remote communities to kick off the Revealed exhibition.
It’s a feather in the cap of the FAC, invited by the WA government to take on the significant indigenous arts event.
“It brings all the remote Aboriginal art centres [more than 20] to Perth and has previously been run in the Cultural Centre,” director Jim Cathcart says.
Revealed offers a chance for punters to get in before the artists are famous, and the chance for the artists to present their work to a broader audience. “The key thing about Revealed and its art is, it’s often the only possible economic opportunity for these communities,” Cathcart says.
The exhibition is a mix of painting, print, wood carving, photography, textiles, video and weaving.
Teddy Byrne hails from Hedland, but grew up in Morley after the family moved from Bruce Rock.
“It was the most amazing magical wonderland…there were teals, mountain ducks, frogs…turtles, dugite, tiger snakes and bobtail goannas. We used to make little canoes out of corrugated iron and we could paddle for half the day and still be nowhere near the end of the swamp. By the time I was 12 it was all gone — the whole lot. They drained it,” he laments.
His art doesn’t dwell on loss, he tells the Voice: “I’m more into portraying beautiful nature.”
Revealed is on now at the Fremantle Arts Centre, Finnerty Street, Fremantle.
“REGAL on Regent.” I could see the headline as I arrived at this lovely Mt Lawley home, with its art nouveau trimmings and leafy streetscape.
Finding an 1826 baby grand piano in one of the four bedrooms confirmed this is a home of substantial proportions.
As you’d expect of an early 1930s dwelling, ceiling roses and fireplaces abound, and aged jarrah shines richly underfoot.
A cobbled drive adds to the old world charm as you approach this delightful home, with its genteel formal lounge, complete with elegant bay window and art nouveau tiled fireplace, and french doors to the verandah.
The huge main bedroom evoked a Jane Austen fantasy as I pictured myself reclining on a chaise lounge, french doors opened to the manicured garden.
There’s no ensuite as such, but one of two bathrooms is right next door.
The needs of the modern family are more than met in the vast open plan, with its mix of aged floorboards and ‘70s parquetry.
It’s so large there are two sitting areas, one with a bay window overlooking the garden.
The kitchen is thoroughly modern, a huge space in pristine white, with wonderfully contrasting black granite bench tops.
A swag of drawers and cupboards includes a very generous walk-in-pantry, and a Zip Hydro tap for instant filtered hot, or cold water, which is so convenient for a quick cuppa, especially when unexpected visitors drop in.
Sitting on a whopping 814sqm the garden is a sprawling space, with a covered alfresco area from which to enjoy the peaceful ambience.
The artist vendor’s cute tuck-pointed brick studio can be found here, and a gorgeous weeping mulberry makes a great hideaway for kids’ games.
The heavily treed suburb attracts local birdlife, which is pretty much the only noise in the otherwise peaceful neighbourhood, the vendor says, pointing out a willy-wagtale is a particularly friendly visitor.
The neighbours are pretty friendly too, with street parties for Christmas and Halloween, she adds.
Perth College is just up the road, as is the Mt Lawley Primary School, and there’s no shortage of shops and cafes nearby.
BY JENNY D’ANGER
3 Regent Street West, Mt Lawley $1.695 million Stuart Irving 0418 920 672 Brad Irving 0422 678 144 Irving & Keenan Real Estate 9272 0522
PERTH city council is cracking down hard on homeless people camping out at Heirisson Island/Matagarup.
On Tuesday and Wednesday rangers accompanied by police swept through the camp to confiscate goods.
The camp has become a home to political activists, homeless people and even a couple of backbackers.
The raids were of an intensity that has not been seen since last August.
• Olivia and Kennedy have been living at Heirisson Island/Matagarup with their folks, who say the camp has “been amazing”. Perth city council says it’s illegal, and is confiscating goods to encourage people to move on. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
Tents, sleeping gear, fishing rods and kids’ toys were reportedly amongst goods confiscated.
By law the confiscated goods must be returned within seven days but the council is saying nothing will be returned until the owners cover the council’s confiscation expenses.
This week the council broke its silence on its actions at the camp, issuing a media statement through PR officer Michael Holland: “illegal camping on Heirisson Island has led to the implementation of section 3.39 of the local government act by the City of Perth, in line with the community’s and ratepayer’s expectations”.
He cited anti-camping laws chapter and verse, though activists believe they have a right to be there, protected by federal law superseding council policies.
Mr Holland said, “one stolen vehicle, several unregistered vehicles and one vehicle fitted with stolen number plates have been seized”.
• Where will this family sleep tonight? Not the PCC’s problem. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
“Heirisson Island is local government property under local law and a valued recreational reserve.”
The statement says the PCC has kept records of confiscated goods and they’ll be available for collection once people pay “the costs of removing, impounding and storing the items”.
Mr Holland claimed 80 per cent of tents impounded had been vacant: homeless advocate Jennifer Kaeshagan explains people don’t typically stick around during the day, returning to the camp only at night to sleep.
Dean Brakema is camping on the island with his five kids. He arrived from Victoria in early January and was working at first but now is looking after the kids as his partner has contracted health problems.
He says the camp’s “been amazing” for his family.
“We’ve got a whole new family since we got here. When we got here we had maybe five or 10 dollars to our name. Herbie [Bropho] and [his partner] Charlotte took us in,” he says. Another homeless person chimed in, “if it wasn’t for Herbie we wouldn’t have a safe place to sleep tonight”. While some are there as activists, making a point about land rights, others are homeless who’ve chosen the island over the back alleys of Northbridge.
The Voice asked if there were drug or alcohol issues on the island and Mr Brakema said it’s far better than other places he’s stayed.
“As much as possible we try to keep it completely drug and alcohol free,” he says. The Voice understands campers called police when a woman tried to deal meth.
“No matter where you are there’s always someone,” Mr Brakema says. “But I’ve stayed in caravan parks and motels all up and down the east coast, and this place has been better run and organised than most caravan parks I’ve stayed in.”
The council’s statement says “the city will continue to monitor Heirisson Island for breaches of local law, which may result in prosecution”.
by DAVID BELL and MATTHEW DWYER
————–
The real story?
WHILE homeless folk had their tents confiscated, stripping them of their shelter from the elements, journalists complained about their vehicles being ticketed.
Perth city council withdrew the fines.
Rangers had ticketed the cars $75 each, then another $100 for not moving.
Shortly after 6PR tweeted about the fines, two rangers removed the tickets from the vehicles and cancelled them.
But the council is refusing to show the same consideration to a homeless family — it’s still expected to pay the $500 fine slapped on its broken down vehicle, despite calls from WA Labor senator Sue Lines for it to be withdrawn on compassionate grounds.
CEO Martin Mileham wrote to Senator Lines saying “the city is unable to waive the fine as this will contravene the city’s local law”.
As for the Voice, our photographer asked where he could park and followed directions to a spot about 600m away. Wearing less ridiculous shoes than most reporters he walked to the camp on foot.
PERTH city council will no longer accept the free tickets it has long been showered with for providing sponsorship.
The Voice has been reporting for years about lord mayors and councillors being provided VIP tickets — some worth hundreds of dollars each — which were essentially bought using ratepayers’ money.
The excuse has always been the elected members needed to make sure the event was worthy of public funding, and they were really martyrs who’d much rather be home watching Downton Abbey than enduring the tedium of box seats at the opera.
The situation came to a head last August when councillor Reece Harley queried the 114 tickets WA Ballet gave the PCC in return for a $55,000 sponsorship package. It was a condition of the sponsorship that WA Ballet hand over 54 tickets for elected members to use, 60 for the CEO and senior executives, and a 15 per cent discount to all Perth city council staff.
“I just have a sense that it’s a bit over the top, it’s more than we’d usually have in an item like this and I think it’s unnecessary,” Cr Harley said at the time.
It earned him a swift rebuke from lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi who said it would be sad if he had been, “spooked by all the current need to talk about putting fear into those who might attend shows or accept invitations”.
Perth city council has now announced it will, “no longer accept tickets or hospitality provided as part of sponsorship, partnership and grant arrangements”.
The move is part of tidying up the books following changes to the local government act.
The PCC will also publish gift and travel registers online, one of Cr Harley’s election pledges during his unsuccessful campaign to unseat Ms Scaffidi at the last election.
All items above $200 must now be declared.
Gifts above $300 are prohibited if the donor’s likely to have any decisions going to council.
At the time of going to print, the only items on the register are a few $275 tickets to the 40under40 Awards for Crs Harley, Jemma Green and Jim Adamos, while Cr Janet Davidson got $550 worth for the same event.
Keith Yong declared a gift from the US department of state for USD$3740 for an international visitor leadership program, along with USD$4550 from them for accommodation and travel.
BAYSWATER councillors will rally at parliament house Thursday against a proposed concrete batching plant.
The councillors decided on the protest after the EPA refused last week to assess the proposal, despite the city’s environmental concerns about the project.
The council has been fighting the proposed plant for five years, concerned with dust pollution and proximity to houses and the Joan Rycroft Reserve.
“It’s very disappointing, especially as their own published policies recommend a buffer zone of 300 to 500 metres from houses or sensitive land uses,” Cr Chris Cornish told the Voice this week.
The council first rejected WA Limestone’s application in 2011 and it’s been bouncing back and forth between the council and the powerful but unelected state tribunal ever since.
The council is appealing the EPA’s decision not to assess the proposal and urges residents to write to WA environment minister Albert Jacobs to make their views known.
“We need to have this ministerial assessment as the this type of toxic noxious plant should not be using our residential and sports areas and Bayswater Brook as a ‘buffer’ for their concrete plant,” Cr Sally Palmer said.
Mayor Barry McKenna says it’s “terrible” the EPA refused to assess the proposal.
A LOCAL Bayswater association is providing free furniture and household goods to survivors of domestic violence.
“We have walked into a place where they had moved three days ago and they haven’t got a fridge, they’ve been living on takeaway food and they were all sleeping on the floor,” says SOS founder Debbie Mason.
“Then we step in. And by the time we leave it’s like they have been living there for 10 years.
“They can never believe that a) we did it and b) they can keep it. It was like watching a 60-minute make-over.”
Starting Over Support (SOS) started two and a half years ago but only became an independent organisation last week.
• Debbie Mason, Cr Stephanie Coates and Kaye Winfield sort through some goods for Starting Over Support. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
“We started out through Zona Housen Refuge Association as a project under Positive Pathways,” Ms Mason says.
“They helped me to set it up. I basically contacted them originally and said ‘Is there a need for this service?’ and they went ‘oh hell yeah’. Then it took us six months to get to a stage where we could start.”
SOS has moved into its first warehouse and is in the process of crowdfunding to buy its own truck.
SOS provides everything from blankets, bed sheets and pillows to kettles, vases, sandwich-presses and sofas. Its aim is to fully furnish accommodation for survivors
Ms Mason says the organisation has crowdfunded its first year of rent ($30,000) by selling excess items in carpark markets and through generous donations, but it has to find a more sustainable business model.
“To make it sustainable we obviously have to start getting grant money and donations to keep it going. For us to survive past Christmas we need to actually find money.”
Bayswater councillor Stephanie Coates hopes community groups will step in to provide some extra items like new pillows and cleaning products.
“I hope there will be some champions in the community that will pick this up and say I’m going to collect and bring it here. That’s what I’m hoping for from the local community.”
Ms Mason says she won’t surrender: “This was my baby in the first place, this is my passion. This has become my life’s work, this is what I’ll keep doing, no matter what.”
IN defiance of Perth city council’s extreme level of secrecy, councillor Reece Harley will publicly release statements to show how much ratepayers’ money he’s claiming for expenses.
Councillors are entitled to reimbursement of up to $13,360 a year on expenses like travel to council events, cost of phone and internet, training, clothing, and things like haircuts and moustache wax.
They are required to lodge statements to support their claims, but the council has outright refused to allow public access to them.
“In the interests of transparency and accountability, from today onward, I will be regularly uploading my ‘reimbursement of expenses’ statements to my website,” Cr Harley says.
“Each city of Perth councillor is entitled to claim up to $13,369 p.a. for reimbursement of expenses incurred in carrying out their role.
“I keep my claims to an absolute minimum in the interests of conserving ratepayers’ money.”
We asked all other councillors and lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi if they would follow suit but received no reply.
Cr Harley’s most recently uploaded document runs from July 1, 2015 to February 2016 and shows he was reimbursed $491.93 of the maximum allowable $13,360. It covered costs for his landline at Council House ($12.01) and his council-issued mobile phone ($59.99 a month).
Cr Harley’s long opposed spending ratepayers’ money on clothing: during his unsuccessful tilt for lord mayor he announced he’d like to ban that allowance all together. The stance put him at odds with fellow councillors but won support from premier Colin Barnett and WA local government minister Tony Simpson who said the allowance was out of step.
Last year Cr Harley revealed that shortly after he was elected, another councillor encouraged him to buy a “few new suits” at council expense. Another described his own outlook on freebies as, “if there’s a dollar on the table, I’ll take it”.
Cr Harley said at the time: “More recently a City of Perth media minder questioned why I’d spent so little of my expenses, and advised me that I should spend more, for fear that my frugality was making others look bad by comparison”.
Perth Voice Interactive 