Woomera: An Artist's Response
When I mention the name Woomera, a notorious refugee detention camp, there are several immediate reactions of note in the Australian cultural scene. The first is an assumption that I am reviving the lineal pamphlet, the protest poster of activist art. The artificial conflict between formalist art with its hermetic integrity and content art with its higher purpose of social change seems to be evoked. Within the commercial and state gallery art scene, now both so market-orientated, social concerns and figurative narrative are things long forgotten.