Dr Jondi Keane finds beauty and inspiration in the south-west’s myriad volcanic stone walls.
STONE wall construction, a documentary and poetry are among the varied artistic ideas that have come from a new south-west-themed project launching this week.
Flows And Catchments has been developed through Deakin University and incorporates a range of artists and styles to explore the region, its communities and its culture.
Dr Jondi Keane, senior lecturer with the school of communication and creative arts, said Flows And Catchments had come out of research by philosopher/artist Paul Carter, who had been delving into the history of the south-west.
“Out of that came about five or six artists at Deakin University going to the region and producing projects,” Dr Keane said.
While other artists utilised video or photography or the written word, Dr Keane was taken by the stone walls that stretch across the region.
“I fell in love with the stone walls because they remind me of where I grew up in America, in Connecticut, New England.
“They’re quite a startling thing, especially when you think about the amount of labour it takes.”
Dr Keane said that instead of wanting to create a “beautiful” artwork inspired by the south-west, he wanted to “reproduce the experience of what it would have been like to be on a work team building the walls”.
To do that, he’ll be hosting Ghost Muscle with artist Raelene Marshall and writer Patrick West on the Civic Green on Saturday, where participants can join in a creative activity exploring the people who would have built the old stone walls, followed by some stone decoration, and then a hands-on wall-building with experts David Long and Alistair Tune.
This will be proceeded on Friday by workshops and the official opening of the Flows And Catchment exhibition, which also features a doco called Sisters Of The Sun, a unique interactive photographic display, video loops and poetry about the south-west.
The artists — which include West, Simon Wilmot, and Rozalind Drummond — will be at Deakin On Timor on Friday from 4.30pm talking about the project.
This will be followed by the exhibition launch at the WAG from 6.30pm.
Ghost Muscle will take place from 9.30am on Saturday on Warrnambool’s Civic Green.