March was all about Hostile Infrastructure at Testing Grounds. It’s crazy to think that I’ve been working on this project on and off for about 6 months and now it’s actually done. I flew into Melbourne a day before beginning the build and then it was all go for the next 2 weeks. The first day there I watched 140 first year, interior design students from RMIT put up the frame work that was going to become my installation. I then painted all the panels for the walls at Success studios in Brunswick, which happened to be a home away from home as there were a number of artists I knew from Perth renting studios there. Next myself Max Richards and Joe Norster clad the structure, then I painted the outside with a bunch of willing assistants (big thanks to Allesandri, Liv, Shannon, James, Arie and Betty). After all the painting was done my excellent lighting sponsors from ARUP and Light Project came down to drop off the lights and talk us through the installation.
In between working I was rolling all over town doing interviews and talking up the project. I was featured in Broadsheet, Art Guide and Arts Hub and gave interviews on ABC and triple R! I’ll share some more project photos after the de-install in April.
We had a soft opening on the 14th of March for industry ahead of the offical opening on the 5th of April. I flew back to Fremantle and had two weeks of proposal writing and pitching, I put in an application for Sydney Festival and for the Australia Council for the Arts Disability Mentoring Initiative, again cross your fingers for me! I also managed to squeeze in a little illustration job for the most excellent North Street Store in Cottesloe, best bread in the West.
I also had a meeting with a new Arts journal that want me to write an article for their inaugural issue, which is exciting. They’e bought my work in the past so I got to visit an old friend in it’s new home in Freo!