Fairfield City Council

HISTORIES, MEMORIES, OTHER TERRITORIES | 7 July – 19 August 2007

< Carlos Barrios < Giuseppe Bianchi < David Capra
< Leon Karla < Haline Ly < Joanne Saad < Sardar Sinjawi

Corner The Horsley Drive and Oxford Street, Smithfield
Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 4pm, Sunday 1pm - 4pm
T: 02 9609 3993
W: www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au

Histories, Memories, Other Territories brings together a generation of local Fairfield artists from a range of cultural backgrounds. The common ground and often central point of concern in their art practice is the way they raise questions about their personal histories, private and collective memories and transition-identities.

By focusing on the inherited social and cultural topography of Fairfield and other places, the artists were invited to interpret and negotiate different identities in a transformative way - from the perspective of their own cultural heritage to the experience of living in an intercultural society; acknowledging personal and collective change and fluidity through and across time.

The work of Joanne Saad explores the sub-cultural Karaoke scene of South West Sydney where cultural, political and language boundaries dissolve.

Sardar Sinjawi’s installation draws from facts and events of Kurdistan’s recent history to give an evocative reminder of atrocities that happened in his country of birth. In a similar context, depicting the central moments of the artist’s personal history, Giuseppe Bianchi’s The Artillery reveals the experience of war and the memories of great historical events. Whilst Carlos Barrios’ work reflects his relationship with his family and the culture of San Salvador in the 70’s, where Carlos spent his childhood and undertook his first artistic endeavours.

David Capra’s carefully assembled collages are a contemplative visual journal of the artist’s wonders and travels, where the objects depicted represent a delicate chronicle of personal recollections of people, places and their relationships. Using a similar theme, Haline Ly, through long exposure photographs, instinctively draws her recollections of people, friends, characters and places with a light stick.

Leon Karla’s digital prints directly juxtaposes domestic scenes of Aussie bush with iconography of popular culture, which have clearly defined cultural connotations.

Histories, Memories, Other Territories gives volume to new contemporary voices, contributing to the debate about the specific cultural landscapes of Western Sydney, while engaging us in an important dialogue about our own cultural identities and their associated boundaries.

The exhibition was developed in collaboration with SNAP! (Skills-Navigation Art Projects), an arts training & mentorship program initiated by Fairfield Community Resource Centre and supported by Arts NSW.

Adnan Begic and Susan Hutchinson