Art

Barbering | The Lifestyle and the Lessons

Charles Lomu and Kiko from our Garage Barbershop project look critically at the art of barbering.

six_fades Last Day at the #GarageBarbershopExhibtion with Kiko giving his first razor fade and nailing it [Instagram]

What is unique about barbering?

Kiko | It’s the lifestyle, there are rules and it’s more about how you live your life. It’s about being clean and respectful.

Charles | Barbering has such a huge culture and history. Fundamentally, it’s about customer service and service to others. The importance of teaching young men barbering today is that we live in a society where everything is going digital. But one thing that’s for sure is that you’ll never be able to automate a haircut online. It’s something that will still be in need in years to come, so I find it a very important skill to pass on to young men. And it’s more than just a haircut – it’s about knowing how to communicate, knowing how to present yourself well, knowing how to treat others with respect, and it’s knowing how to be a good listener.

As a barber, do you have a signature cut?

Charles | The fade – it’s something I’ve always loved since I was a kid. I’m a big fan of hip-hop and street culture. I think the urban art of fading is something that represents street fashion, or street culture, and I love it. I think it makes people look clean and very smart.

six_fades Give a man to fish, Feed him for a day Teach a man to fish, Feed him for a lifetime [Instagram]

The fade is something I had to learn about more as time went on. When I was young, we used to use the terminology “blend”. “Blends” were pretty much fading so you couldn’t see a line, where fading pays a lot more attention to the gradient of the colour of the hair, so making sure it goes from light to dark, but compacts the colour in a lot tighter area. I see it as more of an art compared to blending, which is quite simple and easy to do.”

Kiko | I’m not really sure yet, to be honest. I don’t really have a signature cut, but the main one I always do is a mid-fade. From the neckline, you go from zero, to one and a half and then two – using the ear as a guide.

Kiko, what have you learnt from Charles during the Garage Barbershop project?

Kiko | He’s taught us this important thing, called the 5 Cs, which are consistency, cleanliness, customer service, commitments and cuts.

Charles, what have the young men taught you?

Charles | They’ve taught me that it’s important to be a role model, to set an example in what I do rather than just what I say.

They’ve also reminded me of how important this role is, of giving back to the community.

@six_fades First #FreeHaircut of the day by @_kinggjeezy_ on Irishman Patrick who brought stories of laughter and could easily be a successful stand up comedian. Young ones feel comfortable around their peers but growth awaits the young one who draws from the untapped wisdom of the elderly. [Instagram]

They’ve reminded me also that we live in a world that has turned into a rat race, and there’s hardly any time anymore for even their parents to stop and pay full attention to them because they’ve got to try and hold a job down and look after them and feed them and keep the lights on and a roof over their head. It’s shown me the importance of giving back, because we can help one another raise each other’s children.

They’ve taught me the importance of education by demonstration.

I’ve learnt much of an impact we can be when we work together as a community. The services, youth workers such as myself at the grass roots level, the young people, the young people’s families, the parents, everybody working together and supporting one another makes a huge difference.

By Michelle Lo

Book a cut with Charles aka Six Fades

Photos
Feature Image: Garage Barbershop by Harold David
Other Images: @six_fades

22/06/2017 0 comment

Art

Montages: The Full Cut 1999-2015 | Where to next?

If you missed the exhibition at Blacktown Arts Centre, chances are you’ll get to see it again! Montages: The Full Cut, 1999 – 2015 is touring nationally over the next three years thanks to Artspace, Sydney and Museums & Galleries of NSW.

18 locations. 33 months.

2017
Shepparton Art Museum | 28 January – 19 March 2017
Blacktown Art Centre | 23 February – 22 April 2017
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery | 6 May – 2 July 2017
Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre |15 July – 26 August 2017
Newcastle Art Gallery | 2 September – 5 November 2017
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre | 11 November – 3 December 2017
Bathurst Regional Gallery | 8 December 2017 – 28 January 2018

2018
Goulburn Regional Gallery | 2 March – 21 April 2018
Lismore Regional Gallery | 12 May – 24 June 2018
Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum | 15 June – 31 August 2018
Toowoomba Regional Gallery | 7 June – 26 August 2018
KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns | 8 September – 3 November 2018
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts, Townsville | 9 November – 16 December 2018
ArtGeo Cultural Complex, Busselton | 20 December – 29 January 2019

2019
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin | 1 February – 31 March 2019
Caboolture Regional Art Gallery | 5 April – 2 June 2019
Broken Hill Regional Gallery | 10 May – 23 June 2019
Tamworth Regional Gallery | 26 July – 15 September 2019

Montages: The Full Cut, 1999–2015 was curated and developed by Artspace, Sydney and is touring nationally in partnership with Museums & Galleries of NSW.

Montages Logos from MGNSW

Related Content
Exhibition Review by Johanna Roberts

Image credit
Tracey Moffatt & Gary Hillberg , Lip (stills), 1999, 10 minutes, looped video, sound. Courtesy the artist, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery and Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York.

02/05/2017 0 comment

Art

Blacktown 2016 | This is how we make art

Watch a short compilation of highlights from our 2016 program. Accompanying tracks: Ursula Yovich singing her original songs, ‘Bring Them Home’ and ‘This Life is Mine’, was recorded live at Blacktown City Council’s NAIDOC Family Celebrations, 2 July 2016. This music was commissioned by Blacktown Arts Centre through the Memory project.

#ThisIsHowWeMakeArt

26/04/2017 0 comment

Art

Review | Montages: The Full Cut, 1999-2015

The film industry has long cherished the romantic notion of the lone-genius auteur, despite the inherent collaborative nature of movie making (much like raising children, transferring dreams to celluloid takes a village). This makes for an added joy in the forced anonymity of the mashups created by Tracey Moffatt and Gary Hillberg, as they divorce scenes from their intended filmic narrative to create meta-commentaries on our cultural concerns.

This suite of montage films, produced over 16 years of collaboration between Moffatt and Hillberg, engage in a dialogue with the history of the moving image, and with the audience themselves, culling from cult classics, forgotten b-movies and blockbusters without discrimination. They play like the logical byproduct of our increasingly digital age, smartly anticipating the rise of the online supercut and video essay – the ‘readymade’ of the 21^st century, where fans (and artists) recut and reframe existing films to either create their own story or draw attention to specifics of the director’s craft.

Shown separately, these pieces have maybe been overlooked in the past in favour of other elements of Moffatt’s artistic output. Stylistically, flashier and more labour-intensive pieces such as Christian Marclay’s real-time masterwork The Clock (2010) and documentaries like Thom Andersen’s informed and delightfully cranky Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) have mined similar veins. However, gathered in one place and shown in a continuous loop Moffatt and Hillberg’s videos are dazzling and devastating love songs to the mechanics of cinematic stereotypes.

There’s a steely effectiveness in this repetition – love breaks down at 24 frames a second, the world’s end appears to be endlessly at hand. Some of the pieces engage in the precise emotional manipulation they’re exposing, whether playing the clichés for laughs in Artist or deliberately stringing together multiple tear-jerking moments in Mother. It doesn’t matter that you’re aware of what they’re doing and how, it still makes you want to cry.

Elsewhere, Other takes on the troubled eroticisation of the colonial gaze, and there’s a continued relevance in Lip’s succession of black actresses sassing their way through the extremely limited Hollywood roles open to them. And once Love takes a beautifully bitchy record-scratch into infidelity, Moffatt and Hillberg are unsparing, revealing the distressingly prevalent seam of domestic violence running through so many screen stories. It’s infinitely more confronting when there’s no context for the brutality we’re witnessing – not that there can ever be a justification – and it raises the uncomfortable question of audience complicity.

The collected montages of Moffatt and Hillberg present a rare opportunity to get film-schooled by an inspired pairing of iconoclastic artist and editor.

By Johanna Roberts

Montages: The Full Cut, 1999 – 2015 was curated and developed by Artspace, Sydney and is touring nationally in partnership with Museums & Galleries of NSW.

Photo credit
Montages: The Full Cut, 1999 – 2015 Tracey Moffatt and Gary Hillberg, installation view Blacktown Arts Centre, 2017. Photograph by Sharon Hickey.

10/04/2017 0 comment

Art

Archive | Back in Black

George Tillianakis
Featuring Jemima Isbester, Kenzee Patterson, Melissa Ramos, Raquel Welch and Anastasia Zaravinos

George Tillianakis, having grown up in Blacktown, is well aware of the stereotypes, consumerist pressures and lack of opportunities for creative expression traditionally faced by the people of Western Sydney.
– John Cheeseman, Director, Blacktown Arts Centre, 2007

George Tillianakis will return to Blacktown later this year as one of the mentors in the Without Borders creative residency program, awarded to Sunnyfield.

Back in Black
George Tillianakis
Blacktown Arts Centre
7 December 2007 – 26 January 2008

Image
BACK IN BLACK: R.I.P., George Tillianakis 2007, production still.

28/03/2017 0 comment

Art

Archive | The Good, The Bad & The In-between

In 2013, Blacktown Arts Centre presented an exhibition of work by two of the region’s most celebrated Aboriginal artists – Thaya Giwiirr (Jake Soewardie) and Yatama Nigimali (Danny Eastwood).

The works in The Good, The Bad & The In-between reflect the artists’ memories of landscape, people and occurrences; and their thoughts on the injustice and discrimination towards Aboriginal people past and present.

Djon Mundine (curator and writer) discusses the exhibition, The Good, The Bad & The In-between (2013), with the artists.

Recorded at Blacktown Arts Centre, 5 February 2013
Running time: 30 minutes

Download the exhibition catalogue.

The Good, The Bad & The In-between
Blacktown Arts Centre
21 February – 6 April 2013
Curated by Paul Howard

Image credit
Invasion D-Day, Yatama Nigimali (Danny Eastwood), Acrylic on board, 2012

25/03/2017 0 comment

Art

Exhibition | Blank Slate

I was lucky enough to catch all the Blacktown Studio Artists Collective members for an hour as they were beginning to install works for their first exhibition Blank Slate. I had already enjoyed meeting Nazanin Marashian, Jan Cleveringa and Alex Cyreszko; now there was a chance to meet Rosalind Stanley and Susannah Williams before I officially opened their exhibition on Saturday, 5 November 2016.

Each of the five artists was the recipient of a creative residency at Blacktown Arts Centre’s Main Street studios, and some, including Susannah Williams, have had their work exhibited at Blacktown Arts Centre.

I was really struck by the openness and friendliness of each of the artists in discussing their work and ensuring that their installations complemented each other rather than just appear as individual responses to the concept of Blank Slate.

After weeks of culling, archiving and discarding a mass of my own history files up to 45 years old, I was reminded of all sorts of experiences of creative people in those earlier years in Blacktown and across Western Sydney. Isolation and distance were the outstanding characteristics and a longing to share resources and skills and build audiences was a common factor.

By contrast, the newly formed Blacktown Studio Artists Collective is awash with ideas, social and environmental concerns and the stimulus of members sharing and constantly expanding the depth of their enquiries and the audiences they reach.

Do visit Blank Slate at Blacktown Visitor Information and Heritage Centre, Civic Plaza, opposite Blacktown Library, where the exhibition continues until January 28, 2017.

You are bound to find great interest and connection to your own experience.

By Katherine Knight

Connect with the Blacktown Studio Artists Collective

Facebook Blacktown Studio Artists Collective

Connect with Katherine Knight

Katherine’s book Passion, Purpose, Meaning: Arts Activism in Western Sydney is available at Blacktown Arts Centre for $24.95 (20% off RRP).

Blog Western Sydney Front

From left: Jan Cleveringa, Nazanin Marashian, Susannah Williams, Rosalind Stanley and Alex Cyreszko

Image
Emily McTaggart

08/11/2016 0 comment

Art

Simply Voices

Our choir has been around since 2006. It was originally a small partnership between Blacktown City Council and TAFE, who decided to start a little project. The aim was to get senior people out of their houses and become more involved with the local community.

This was only a small six week project, but Council did what they could to keep the community group standing. The Council has supported our choir director, Linda Marr, for many years. Without her, it would be very tough to continue.

Our membership has always been between 35 – 45 seniors. We currently have around 45 people. Almost everyone is from the Blacktown Local Government Area. We only charge members $20 a year as a contribution towards our different activities.

We’re also very lucky because we have a good bunch of male singers for a community choir – we have at least 15 men. There will always be a big imbalance, but compared to most community choirs, we’re very lucky to have that range of voices.

Simply Voices 1

We’re a very busy community group. We do around 15 gigs each year, so there’s usually something happening every month.

The choir performs in many different places around Blacktown, but mostly in senior’s clubs, retirement villages and at council events.

Our repertoire is quite eclectic! Linda is really keen on folk music from across the world. She’s even does a little weekly stint on 2MBS playing folk music.

Linda is knowledgeable and talented but, best of all, she’s patient, which is very important with a community group like this.

Singing is great therapy, and when you sing with a choir you slowly learn to keep in tune with the people singing around you.

Ten years ago l loved singing but I wasn’t very good. After many years of singing with this group under Linda’s direction, I can hold quite a tune, and I even sing in a little band. I’m having a ball in my senior years!

Recently stories have emerged in the media about how effective and life changing music can be. This is especially true for people who have Alzheimer’s or dementia.

choir_img_9328 These people’s minds don’t work as well anymore, but if you give them music to listen to, music that they’re been familiar with, their mind changes. Parts of their memory can come back and they sing along to a familiar tune. There have even been instances where people have been non-verbal, but discover they can sing.

We see it when we go to retirement villages. When people start to sing, they’ll tap along to the beat of our music, and you can see lights coming back on.

These moments are very special.

Friendships form among choir members, and socialising becomes the important part. As you get older, it’s easy to settle into a very quiet life, particularly when you’re still in your old house, as a lot of elderly people are these days.

Friends drift away, for different reasons, and you’re left looking at four walls.

So it’s incredibly important to have a regular group like this, to meet people we can call our mates.

– Ken and Marjorie Freeman

A Word from the Director

Linda Marr

I’ve been directing the choir for close to 8 years. During this long period, there’s still the core of the original membership that was first formed, which has been great for everyone.

Welcoming new members has helped the choir in terms of developing the musicality of the choir, but the longer a group of people sing together, the closer their harmonies get. It’s like listening to a family when they sing together; you notice how their voices blend together. When a choir sings together for a long time the same thing happens, they become more and more polished.

Singing is rewarding for people. For the particular age group for this choir, the over 55s, there’s an isolation involved in being their age, and perhaps not having people around you all of the time.

But the choir is about even more than getting together to chat, it’s about getting together to sing, which really gives everyone a sense of fulfillment. This opportunity develops their individual potential. While they may be in an older age bracket, they can still learn from the choir, they can still give back to the community by doing performances. They can forge new relationships and build self-esteem.

Once members become more confident and feel like they’re improving, they begin to find their place and contribute elements of themselves to the choir. Directing the choir is very rewarding for me.

– Linda Marr

By Emily McTaggart

Where is Simply Voices performing next?

Simply Voices will perform at the charity concert for the Cancer Council at 2pm on Sunday, 23 October 2016 at the Blacktown Workers Club Ballroom. Entry is $10 for adults $10 and $5 for children.

For more information, contact:

Ken Freeman | 0407 288 831
Ken Simon | 0402 677 765

Blacktown’s own community choir Simply Voices has been a part of the Western Sydney music scene since 2006. Supported by Blacktown City Council, and under the leadership of musical director Linda Marr, the choir performs at civic events, community festivals, retirement villages and multicultural celebrations, and have even performed at the Sydney Opera House! With an exciting and ever-changing repertoire of popular classics, folk songs and world music, this is a group of people who simply love to sing – and do it beautifully.

05/10/2016 0 comment

Art

Do you have a question about the Blacktown City Art Prize?

Where do I bring my work and when?

All entries must be made online at www.blacktownarts.com.au. You can enter 1 or 2 artworks. The entry fee is $25 per artwork. The Judges will then select the Finalists. The Finalists must bring in their work on Friday, 11 November 2016 or Saturday, 12 November 2016 between 10am – 5pm to Blacktown Arts Centre, 78 Flushcombe Rd, Blacktown. Enter Arts Centre car park via Campbell Street, Blacktown.

What is the maximum size my work can be?

For 2D works the maximum size including frame is 155cm (height) x 155cm (width). For sculptures and ceramics, the maximum size is 200cm (high) x 150cm (wide) x 150cm (deep). It must weigh 40kg or less. Works MUST fall within these size and weight restrictions, no exceptions. 1cm out of this size restriction is not acceptable. 10gram over the weight restriction is not acceptable.

What are D-rings? And do I need them?

A “D-ring” is a small metal ring that is shaped like the letter D. D-rings are attached to frames, one on either side, so the work can be hung from these points. You do not need D-rings if your work has a synthetic cord on the back. Wire is not acceptable unless it is covered with plastic as it can damage other works. If your work is a stretched canvas on a timber frame, it can be hung from the frame.

How should I frame my artwork?

It is up to you how you would like to frame your work. Judges of previous Blacktown City Art Prize exhibitions have commented that simple frames which enhance the qualities of the artwork are better than overly decorative frames.

How will I be notified if my work has been selected for the Blacktown City Art Prize?

The list of selected Finalists works will appear at www.blacktownarts.com.au from Monday 31 October. Works not included on the list are to be understood as not selected. Finalists will also receive a list of selected works via email on the Monday 31 October.

If I am selected as a Finalist, when and how do I deliver and collect my artwork?

All selected works must be delivered on Friday, 11 November 2016 or Saturday, 12 November 2016, and collected after the exhibition on Friday, 3 February 2017 or Saturday, 4 February 2017 between 10am – 5pm from Blacktown Arts Centre, 78 Flushcombe Rd, Blacktown. Enter the Arts Centre car park via Campbell Street, Blacktown.

Will there be someone there to help me unload the artwork from my car?

Yes, just approach one of the Arts Centre staff and ask for assistance.

Can I assemble my own sculpture?

We ask that all sculpture requiring assembly be accompanied by photographs. Multi-part sculptures may be assembled by artists themselves. However, photographs must be provided to the Arts Centre.

Can I install my own work?

We employ professional art handlers who install all works on behalf of the artists. The artists may be asked to assist with installation, but this is unusual.

Can I get someone to deliver the work on my behalf?

Yes, however they must have written permission to do so, photo ID and all the necessary details of the artworks being delivered.

If I post my work will it be posted back to me?

Yes. However all costs, packaging, transport and/or postage arrangements must be made by the artist.

Do I need to provide a plinth?

No. Blacktown Arts Centre has a collection of plinths that will be used for the exhibition.

My work needs power, can this be arranged?

Yes, however power points are limited and this preference will affect where your work is installed.

My work is free-standing but hangs from the ceiling, is this acceptable?

No. Works cannot be suspended or hung from the Arts Centre roof. If it requires suspension it is not deemed to be free-standing.

My painting is a stretched canvas, does it need to be framed?

No. However the artwork must be professionally presented and ready to be hung.

Can I enter a mixed media artwork?

Yes. Mixed media artworks will only be accepted if the work is primarily a 2D work and can be hung on a wall. Sculptures can be mixed media but must adhere to the size and weight restrictions.

The artwork details have changed since submitting my Entry Form. Can I make changes when I deliver the work?

No. All Details must be confirmed when submitting the Entry Form by 5pm on Tuesday, 11 October 2016.

Do you need a statement and CV from me?

No. More information regarding artworks and artists may be requested by potential buyers and if artwork is acquired by Blacktown City Council or Ford Land Company.

What are the prizes?

The main prize is $15,000. Other prizes are the Aboriginal Artist Prize $2,000, Local Artist Prize $2,000 and the People’s Choice Prize $1,000.

What kind of artworks can I enter?

Works accepted are 2D works that include drawings, prints, paintings, textiles and mixed media. 3D works that include ceramics and sculpture. Artworks not accepted include photography, film, video, sound, performance and installation artworks.

How do I enter the 2016 Blacktown City Art Prize?

Entry into Blacktown City Art prize 2016 is by online application only at www.blacktownarts.com.au/bcap16.

Important information:

Images accepted are JPG, jpeg or jpg only. Maximum file size 2MB. To resize your images, go to www.picresize.com.
Files should be named firstname-secondname-title.jpg, eg. john-smith-landscape2.jpg.
Once you have submitted your entry you will receive a confirmation email.

If you have trouble completing your application, please call Blacktown Arts Centre on 9839 6558.

CHILDREN AND YOUNG ARTISTS SECTION (5-15yrs)

Is there an entry fee?

No, it is free to enter.

Where can I get an entry form?

Blacktown Arts Centre
Blacktown City Council Civic Centre
Download from www.blacktownarts.com.au

What is the theme and is it compulsory?

This year the theme is Hidden Wildlife. The theme is not compulsory.

What is the maximum size the work can be?

A3 size for 2D works (not including frame) or 30 x 30 x 30cm for sculptures. No exceptions.

Does the child entrant have to be a Blacktown resident?

Entrants must reside in Blacktown or attend school with the Blacktown City Local Government Area.

How many works can I enter?

One only.

When do I submit the entry form and artwork?

You submit these together on Friday, 11 November or Saturday, 12 November between 10am – 5pm.

How do I collect the work when the exhibition is over?

Come to Blacktown Arts Centre at 78 Flushcombe Rd, Blacktown on either Friday, 3 February 2017 or Saturday, 4 February 2017 between 10am – 5pm.

Key Dates

Closing date for entry forms, including entry fees
5pm on Tuesday, 11 October 2016

List of selected artworks posted on website, Facebook and email
Monday, 31 October 2016

Delivery date for selected artworks
10am – 5pm
Friday, 11 November or Saturday, 12 November 2016

Official Opening Night
6– 8pm
Friday, 2 December 2016

Exhibition dates
Saturday, 3 December 2016 –
Saturday, 28 January 2017
Open Tuesday – Saturday
10am – 5pm

Collection of selected entries
10am – 5pm
Friday, 3 February 2016 or
Saturday, 4 February 2017

Image

Audrey Newton

Ro Murray delivers her entry in the 2015 Blacktown City Art Prize to Paul Howard, Visual Arts Curator.

23/08/2016 0 comment

Art

Street Level

On a weekend in May 1995, John Cheeseman and I hired a truck and collected all of Street Level’s assets and drove them to Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Liverpool where they remain. It marked the end of Street Level’s five-year period at 41 First Avenue Blacktown. It also initiated the third and final phase of Street Level as an artist-run initiative in Western Sydney.

This final phase was led by members Kathy Cleland and David Cranswick curating exhibitions and events across sites in Parramatta and the then-new Casula Powerhouse until 1998.

After the closure in 1983 of the Modern Art Gallery in Casula (run commercially by artist Alice Klaphake), there was no contemporary art space between Annandale and Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest in Emu Plains.

In 1988, the Campbelltown Bicentennial City Art Gallery came into operation, and Street Level was incorporated as a not-for-profit artist-run initiative, the first in Western Sydney. A part of Western Sydney University, it was established by about 30 former students of the Nepean College of the Arts, led by Katie Soady, Albertina Viegas, Diane Wallis and Atina Hrstic.

With funding from members and the Australia Council for the Arts, the new initiative rented a shopfront at 213 High Street Penrith, launching its first program in 1988 – an Albertina Viegas installation of bamboo and domestic implements as weapons evoking resistance and resilience in the face of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

From the outset, Street Level members wanted to connect the region to a network of artist-run initiatives nationally and internationally to engage with art and ideas. They also felt it was necessary to take up social issues of the time such as Aboriginal land rights, community television, the environment, vivisection, gay and lesbian equality and East Timorese independence. They tried new ways to present art to the community and to provide professional experience for artists and curators.

The second phase in Street Level’s history was the collective’s move to Blacktown. They leased a shopfront – a ‘bunker’ – with space to establish six artists’ studios and a gallery. The collective immediately engaged with the local hip-hop scene. They set up a legal wall for graffiti writers and an exhibition called Thrill to Chill which commissioned new graffiti writers to paint the gallery walls.

The constantly changing legal wall outside, and a new exhibition/events program inside every two weeks, established a constant aesthetic dialogue on Australian hip-hop and visual arts.

Over time, Street Level was run by voluntary curators and artists developing over 200 exhibitions and events. By various ingenious means, they all activated a collective awareness of arts culture in Western Sydney.

By Kon Gouriotis

Text featured in the It’s Our Thing exhibition catalogue, available online at www.issuu.com/blacktownartscentre or at Blacktown Arts Centre.

Exhibition | It’s Our Thing: More History on Australian Hip-Hop

2 June – 6 August 2016 | Blacktown Arts Centre

Blacktown’s influential role in the history of Australian hip-hop takes centrestage in a vibrant new exhibition. It’s Our Thing revisits the emergence of this dynamic sub-culture in Blacktown in the 1990s and examines how the collaborative practices and styles of hip-hop culture influenced the work of contemporary artists Khaled Sabsabi and Minky Rawat. Sabsabi and Rawat present new and archival artworks, alongside works by some of the most iconic artists of the 20^th century – Joseph Beuys, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Image
Unique at Street Level, Blacktown, c.1992, photograph and collection of Kon Gouriotis

23/07/2016 0 comment