Bump in at Chan

Chris Raja writes about the first few days of bump in at the Chan for the Art of the Nomad

Wednesday: Day one at The Chan

I’m with Leanne Waterhouse, Siyang Zhou and Sarah Pirrie at the Chan Contemporary Art Space. The space is large and bare and over the next seven days it will need to be filled. I’m one of six curators for this show. It’s my first time curating and I am approaching my task with trepidation.

Who said curating was about long, boozy lunches? It is more about building walls, moving panels and addressing existential questions. Will you carry that panel over there please? At this moment the most important person in the gallery seems to be Stewart, the carpenter who is drilling nails into the panels and attaching them together to make walls. It is physical labour and essential but I’m looking forward to seeing the art. Having been in Alice Springs I am not sure what the other curators have got. Will the other curators/artist’s work fit in with mine? Has the art work arrived safely?

Thursday:  Day two at The Chan

More panels.  More moving. Building walls. Chips Mackinolty, whose speech at MAGNT was the catalyst for the exhibition, breezes into the gallery for a chat. In his speech he asks the question: Who is a real Territorian and how should they be represented in a Territory that is the domain of Aboriginal people, and Aboriginal artists? Mackinolty is here with Frank Gohier from Red Hand Prints. Mackinolty argues that we, non Aboriginals, are now the real nomads in the territory. We come and go as we please. 

As the other artists and their work arrive we unwrap the art like greedy children ripping apart packaging. It is an eclectic collection of work. In Temple Export, Zhou builds a prayer room inside a wooden shipping crate. The crate is decorated with the image of Ma Zhu, a goddess with the power to control the ocean and to whom Chinese sailors pray before taking a long journey.

I’m please the work sent from the artists I’m working with arrived undamaged. As I unpack Rod Moss’s Big Rooster I’m surprised to learn Moss hasn’t had a major show in Darwin. Certainly, it’s time for him to have a retrospective here!

 Sia Cox’s work looks magnificent and delicate. Her fabric sculptures have travelled well from Alice Springs to Darwin. She is certainly about to make an impression. Rupert Betheras who has already made an impression in Darwin as a footballer, having played for St. Mary’s Football Club and Collingwood, will be hard to miss. His muscular, three-meter long, Australian Line of Spiritual Salvation once stretched is too big to bring to the gallery. We need to hire a large vehicle.

Friday:  Day three at The Chan

Suzi Lyon, the other curator from Alice Springs, has arrived. It’s nice to have two curators from Alice Springs interacting with artists in Darwin. The divide between Darwin and Alice Springs is palpable. This is a good opportunity for us all to interact and collaborate. Being a writer I am acutely aware that there isn’t much dialogue between territory artists and few opportunities like this for collaboration. Ian Hance begins creating his on-site installation Signals from the frontier using etched and inked zinc plates, motor vehicle parts, enamel paint, maps, acetate and red velvet plush cording with chrome bollards.

Saturday:  Day four at The Chan

 Looking around the gallery most of the art works are actually addressing similar themes and considerations. It seems road trains, transport in various forms, drinking, ecology, land, rubbish and rest, albeit unsettled rest,  seems to me to be the major preoccupation.  Amongst the artists and curators, there are also a number of different cultural backgrounds and influences here.

The history of migrants in the Northern Territory hasn’t been documented enough. In particular, I’m thinking of the Afghan Cameleers, who were really Indians and Pakistanis, who helped the early explorers and pioneers settle this country. The fact that the exhibition is in the Chan gallery makes it hard to ignore the Chinese influence on local history.

Sunday: Day five at The Chan

Mackinolty and Gohier are setting up their area. They are creating an installation that includes a bar and a tongue-in-cheek, history of Bogans. Included here is Colin Holt’s, Boganopoly, 2012, acrylic paint on wood and glass,  Holt’s Bogan World, 2012, an acrylic on board, Mackinolty’s, Bogan kids’ names and Franck Gohier, The bucket, 2007, an acrylic on board that is clearly a reference to a popular fast food chicken outlet. They are thorough in their critique and their installation includes Queensland Rum, eskies and a critique of Bogan names. For those that are unclear, the term Bogan is Australian vernacular, usually pejorative or self deprecating, for an individual who is recognisably from a lower middle class background. On the other side, of their bar is Sia Cox’s work, Resting and Love at the Gap View Hotel. Suzi Lyon’s, Shaped like a bird, 2012, digital sound recording of a road train can be heard. Underneath is a dusty red swag. Nearby, Siyang Zhou is busily putting the final touches to her prayer room.

The territory is a wonderful place. It is full of spirituality, alcoholism, madness and spectacular beauty. So there is little wonder it attracts artists.

Louisa, an ABC reporter and her cameraman, from 7:30 NT arrive and interview several artists and curators. After being interviewed, Suzy Lyon flies back to Alice with three more days to go for the opening.