2015-06-09
Vivienne Glance
When the Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) programmed Marrugeku's 'Cut the Sky', there were a few eyebrows raised. Resource giants such as Chevron, Rio Tinto and Woodside support PIAF and 'Cut the Sky' is essentially about climate change and how it affects the traditional owners of the Pilbara region. Not only that, but the show goes further than climate change. This stunning blend of dance, poetry, music and drama also questions the choices traditional owners are forced to make between sustaining culture or sustaining community. There are many gas and oil projects in the Pilbarra that affect not only the environment, but the connection of local indigenous communities to country.
Marrugeku is renowned for its dynamic and visually powerful productions, and Cut the Sky is no exception. But as part of PIAF, this production was funded by a private foundation, Wind Over Water, founded by Graeme Morgan, former Managing Director of Sealcorp Holdings. Through Wind Over Water, Morgan supports conversation, medical research, arts and social programs.
Marrugeku went on to take this show to Adelaide and have an international touring programme planned. At the upper end of the scale, this is a success story for arts, and activism, on the mainstage.
Similarly, John Wolsey's exhibition of paintings, 'Heartlands and Headwaters', at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) examines his connection to and interaction with the environment and was privately supported by a former finance director of Rio Tinto, Sir Roderick Carnegie. Wolsey celebrates the wetlands of Australia, from the Mangrove swamps in northern Western Australia to the Skullbone Plains in Tasmania, at the same time noting their fragility. In a recent interview on Radio National's Books and Arts programme, Wolsey asked, 'Farmers are beginning to do …wonderful things… In many ways, it was very, very sad. Can one imagine a country which could turn one's greatest rivers into sewers? ... I was able to draw a lot of fish but they were dead.' Carnegie, a great art collector, said in the same interview, 'A lot of things that have been done [to the land] has been silly… they have to do things better.' Both of the examples above show how artists can engage with questions about humanity's impact on the environment through more mainstream events.
In recent years there has been a surge in interest in nature writing. The biennial Nature Conservancy Nature Writing Prize of $5,000 is a significant award for an essay on a relationship or interaction with some aspect of the Australian landscape. The inaugural winner, Annamaria Weldon, wrote about the Yalgorup Lakes south of Mandurah, in WA. In one of these, Lake Clifton, is a rare thrombolite reef that is the largest in the southern hemisphere. These rock formations are thousands of years old and house cyanobacteria, thought to be similar to one of the first forms of life to appear on earth.
Unfortunately, human activity threatens to disrupt their fragile ecology and destroy them. Since winning the Nature Writing Prize, Weldon continues to talk to communities and groups to raise awareness of this unique and endangered landscape. Her book, The Lake's Apprentice (UWA Publishing) is not only an intimate portrait of this place and a record of its history and ecology, but also a means to inspire actions to save it. However, it is not only the environment that inspires artists. Social justice issues such as refugee rights, the plights of new migrants, and sustainability, have underpinned many works.
Dure Rey Khan is a young Muslim writer and performer originally from Pakistan. Her play Once We Were Kings opened at the Blue Room Theatre in Perth in May. Directed by Mustafa Mahdi this work was drawn from stories of struggle and disillusion and woven together with fantasy. It explored what it means to be young, queer and Muslim — 'a crescent-shaped peg in a Southern Cross-shaped hole'.
Musician, Asim Goreshi, plays the violin and oud and uses exquisite whistling to bring the music of Sudan to Sydney audiences. Through the poetry of Afeif Ismail the suffering of political exile and the confusion and nostalgia experienced by recent migrants is sensitively portrayed, that draws on his cultural traditions.
Olga Cironis uses her work and practice to challenge the inequities that arise from migration, saying 'Life is too short to be passive'. Artists such as these give the wider Australian public an insight into the emotional lives of migrants, to counter the mainly bureaucratic reports on mainstream media, that rob them of their human voice.
Not only the content of the art works, but also the practice of artists can be a form of activism. Marrugeku is trying to reduce its environmental footprint by using LED lights for its shows. Sydney Theatre Company's 'Greening the Wharf Project' has improved the sustainability of their heritage-listed home. And the smaller Blue Room Theatre aims to be the first carbon neutral venue and arts organisation in Western Australia.
For most artists, however, creating work independently of government or institutions allows them to combine artistic excellence with political, environmental and community awareness without fear of interference. The 2014 proposal by George Brandis, the previous Federal Government's Arts Minister, that artists who reject private sponsorship should be denied Australia Council support gives an insight into how arts funding might be used to influence artistic choices. The further gutting of arts funding this year was a disgrace.
Artists have the power to open people's minds, helping us be part of the discussion on how we want to interact with and improve our communities. Artists are resourceful people, and whether they are able to receive financial support or not, it is inspiring to know that they still demand to be heard.
Arts funding can't be turned on and off like a tap, and it needs secure long-term public support. Will you call on the government to recognise and respect the arts?