Published 30 March 2022
Discussion of the artist's practice as an artist from Croatia in Melbourne since 1971 - how is it affected by linguistic and ethnic differences.
Exhibition Review: Tandanya Adelaide South Australia January - June 1991. Interviews with curators Kerry Giles Kurwingie and John Kean. Images of inma at Ernabella included in the article.
Published June 1991
It is fair to say that the development of multicultural arts and the recognition of cultural diversity in Queensland is still in its early stages. Photos (6) of an event at the Cafe Folkloric.
Tang Qizhong is a painter and Fine Arts educator from China. He writes about his art practice and the relationship between art practices and institutions in China and Australia.
"I used to boast about you, my son the painter. You painted trees, now you paint squares to humiliate me." Quote by the artist's father in the early 1970s Melbourne.
How much marketability is immanent in the artist's cultural background is a matter of delicate negotiation between dealer and client. Just now, it may appear to some artists an unfortunate fact that for them, Aboriginality is not an option.
Paul Borg, an artist of Maltese origin, speaks of his unusual working arrangements.
Does anyone have their right to represent stories and cultural background not their own? Does anyone have the responsibility to do so? No, I don't think so.....
A very personal view. And finally there is a need for us to allow art and artists to develop from their own roots, regardless of their country or culture of origin.
Multicultural Artworker's Committee [MAC] aims to provide all citizens with equal opportunity to access and promote art in its various forms.
Reflections on an exhibition of abstract art at Linden Gallery St Kilda, Melbourne March 1991. An emigrant artists once said to me "I can never abandon the figure and make purely abstract art, after all I am Greek".
The tendency to pigeon hole 'ethnic' art as a second class art practised by minority groups is common in Australia too... Dihedron is a group of artists and supporters operating in Brisbane who share the common goal of helping artists in socio-cultural isolation.
Hossein Valamanesh writes from Berlin hoping that this issue of Artlink will help in the understanding of the multicultural nature of Australian Culture and not assist in any way in making pigeon holes to safely classify the issue.
