Joan Kerr rewrites Australian art history to gain a better understanding of the present. Her ambitious projects question who wrote what, how and about whom. Discussion of 'Heritage: The National Women's Art Book'. Photograph of Joan Kerr in the article.
Editorial by guest editor Joanna Mendelssohn. What after all is different about Sydney? I have tried to give some idea of the debates which are not always expressed in writing - the incestuous nature of the mighty arts organisations; the way that words influence or corrupt understandings of art; and the limits on public debate because of fear of the consequences.
Western Sydney can be seen as another city with another culture. This is not quite accurate, but it is the fasted growing region where the bulk of the younger population of the city live. And it has art.
Sydney thinks of itself as the centre of the country, the only part that matters, but in the lucrative art market, Sydney is subsidiary to the old moneyed city of the south -- Melbourne.
The most incisive commentary on the visual arts in Sydney usually occurs in private conversations that are not repeated in print for fear of the NSW defamation laws. But there is a great deal published on the visual arts....