Young artists in Australia are facing an uncertain future.
Independent artists, now, are finding themselves more often than not sidelined in favour of 'superior' art. While attention and funding move away from individual creatives, the new generation are combating struggles and are ensuring creativity, legitimacy and sustainability are maintained. In spite of pressures from the industry, they hold tightly to their artistic vibrancy. 'Vital Signs' is testament to that.
A photography exhibition shot on-site at This Must Be The Place, 'Vital Signs' is a lead-up event to Backbone's 2high Festival in January. A portrait series of and by young artist, Ruby Newport and Aidan Hogg – both part of the team working on 2high Festival 2016 – find themselves coming of age at a particularly turbulent time for arts in Australia. They have captured the faces of other young artists – visual, performing, musical and more. These faces are a reminder that young artists are vital, they are alive, they are creating incredible work of an excellent standard – and they are kicking ass!
This Must Be The Place Co-founder and Curator, Elliott Bledsoe, is passionately engaged with the industry, its youth and the exhibition's mission:This Must Be The Place is a fairly new creative space in Brisbane, what can we expect from a visit to the Bakery Lane gallery?
There isn't any easy way to explain This Must Be The Place. Partly because we do lots of things, and also because we don't want to define it in a prescriptive way.
We want people to experience interesting things in the unexpected setting of a boutique shopping precinct. And we want people to surround themselves with original creative works. So we set out to create a venue that supports production and presentation of creativity.
TMBTP hosts a monthly curated exhibition series on the walls and handmade objects such as pottery in the crates.
We wanted to create a space that was able to quickly transform to support different types of activities, so we intentionally fitted the space out with things that area easy to packed up or move – stacked wooden crates, folding chairs, a ping pong table. TMBTP is less about the walls and more what happens between them.
What led you to the creation of the space?
I recently moved back from Sydney a was surprised and saddened that a number of the small galleries that I used to go to in Brisbane were gone. These kinds of spaces were crucial in discovering new and interesting talent and seeing work to add to my personal collection.
My sister Sherryn Bledsoe and I started TMBTP for people to work from, to show things and to explore a model for a venue that didn't rely strictly on government funding or private giving.
What do you look for when you're curating exhibits?
I come to curation from a background in managing digital content. I am not so interested in deciding what is 'good' art, rather I am interested in the narrative told by a show. And this story emerges from the combination of what the show looks like and how it was made. We look for shows that have something they want to say.
Your next exhibition features a photographic series of portraits for Backbone's 2high Festival; can you tell us about it?
The exhibition description explains the premise concisely. There has been a lot of discussion and discontent expressed about the direction the federal government is taking in relation to arts policy and funding.
I have plenty of thoughts about that, but this show isn't about activism, it's about reminding people that these kinds of decisions will have wide-ranging impacts on a generation of artists just starting their careers in the arts. They are people with talent and skills and hopes and aspirations, and these are the faces of some of those artists.
How important is it to feature work by young artists?
I am not so interested in age when it comes to artistic merit. But at this time in the arts I felt it was important to recognise the particular pressures young artists find themselves under.
From an insiders perspective, what can we expect at the 2016 2high Festival?
2high is always responsive to the group of young practitioners working on it each year. This means from year to year it looks and feels completely different. For the 2016 team, they have curated a programme that mixes festival stalwarts like music and theatre with other ideas that matter to them including science and feminism.
'Vital Signs: Photo Portraits Of And By Young Artists' exhibits This Must Be The Place 30 October - 27 November. Backbone's 2high Festival programme will launch on the opening night of the exhibit, and festival runs 15-17 January.
