A humble –while simplistically bold– reflection of cultural icons within Melbourne’s local life, a project and consequence of an intercontinental bridge built across the South Hemisphere. Latin America’s WALKA conceptualises Melbourne’s daily journeys of life via contemporary jewellery, an intimate game between the local self-looking glass and 21st century fashion. Project developed along The South Project.
Walka’s work is a rescue of local identity through the language of materials. The process begins by looking for estranged cultural icons and examining their materiality; then constructing new works with a minimum of intervention, leaving the original material to "speak for itself".
While intuition and common sense are useful in this selection process empathy is the most important. We walk around neighbour-hoods in the suburbs and the city seeing how people live and how they arrange their homes. We use everyday visual icons and provide a new context for them, building on their original identity.
During our travels through the city we have been influenced by a range of local icons that together form a notion of suburbia and urban living. In some suburbs we have encountered rows of similar red brick houses, with Holden utilities, in the driveways and boots next to the door. We became curious about how these objects reflected the Australian dream and were emblematic of the hard work needed to achieve it. These ideas and forms were the basis of the pieces Suburbia and Working Hard.
We were inspired by the idea of the home as a secure and genuine place; one where owners or tenants could express themselves freely through the use of signs such as “Beware dog on promises”, and “No junk mail”.
We have used 1945, the year of invention of the most obvious of Australian icons - the rotary clothes line - to name one of the pieces in this collection of works. We saw the clothes line in almost every home.
In Metcard we wanted to explore the analogous visual relationship between the use of Aboriginal dot painting technique as represented in Melbourne’s souvenir shops and the dots representing stops on the Met-link map. Both are now ubiquitous graphic icons within the urban environment but one has lost much of its traditional meaning. We are Sorry.
One of the most important characteristics of Melbournians is how they worry about environmental problems. The use of recycled water at home is shown in the work Tank water in use. We enjoy pollution free transport commuting around the city by bicycle - you are very lucky here to have such a great bike path system and culture. Anyway… each time you need less your car and a parking space.
Another feature of populations environmental consciousness is the use the most common, famous and “chic” accessory in Melbourne: “the green bag”. The pervasiveness of the green bag led us to many questions: Why do all these people use them? Have they rejected plastic bags for good, is this now the common way of life? How must we live to make a better world?
How do you react? Do you identify with these icons?
Claudia Betancourt and Ricardo Pulgar
www.walka.cl
Melbourne: Bond from the inside out has been developed in collaboration with the SOUTH PROJECT and is presented as part of the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.
