Talking Posters Exhibition

Talking Posters: Garage Graphix 1981–1998, presents a selection of screen-printed artworks, calendars and photographs, alongside original equipment and materials from the renowned ‘Garage’ in Mount Druitt in western Sydney. The exhibition reveals the role of artistic collaboration in giving voice to community concerns, expressed through the unique styles and typography from a pre-digital era of poster-making.

Situated in Mount Druitt, the Garage Graphix was an outstanding example of community arts practice and leadership in Australia in the eighties and nineties. For the length of its existence, Garage Graphix produced hundreds of political and socially relevant screen-printed posters with, and by its western Sydney constituent base. Crucially, it led the field in the development of a community-based art workshop, community activism, the telling of western Sydney stories and concerns.

Operationally it led in the development of an Aboriginal arts team, a community graphic design service, arts projects, artist residencies, innovative partnerships and developing Aboriginal arts and mentorships.

The Talking Posters: Garage Graphix 1981–1998 exhibition at the Sydney Festival will present artworks alongside archival objects and photographs from the ‘Garage’, from 8 to 28 January 2024.

Curated by Nadia Odlum and presented by Blacktown Arts.
Curatorial mentor: Julie Ewington.
Garage Graphix Reference Group: Alice Hinton Bateup, Marla Guppy, Lee Anne Hall, Paul Howard, Lin Mountstephen, Alicia Talbot.
Project Manager: Paul Howard.

Talking Posters: Garage Graphix 1981–1998 previously toured to Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery from June to August 2022, and was originally exhibited at the Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre from April to May 2022.