THE first piece of art in a ‘Billboards’ tour of Victoria by Indigenous artists is being presented by Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery and on show at 2061 Frankston-Flinders Road, Hastings, until 8 May.
Mixed-cultural, First Peoples multidisciplinary artist Lisa Waup, along with artists Amrita Hepi, and Steven Rhall, have been commissioned to create new works for ‘Billboards’ in regional Victoria in partnership galleries.
The tour, commissioned by NETS Victoria, an Australia Council for the Arts initiative to create a national network of visual arts touring, aims to ensure contemporary art continues to reach audiences.
For the first billboard, Waup’s work Journeyed considers the significance of the ubiquitous roadside sign.
The artist said she wanted to make people think about place and land, given that signs direct movement on the “unceded sovereign lands” of First Peoples, and whose authority they rely on.
Waup says Journeyed is part of an ongoing series titled Our Way, that “spans various media (printmaking, sculpture, photography and jewellery) to explore the power and peril of the directional sign and its ability to control, repress and disorientate First Peoples on their own land”.
By reappropriating and reassembling roadside signs, Waup removes their directional value, leaving behind only their symbolic meaning.
By stripping these directives of their context and authority, Waup believes what remains is their socio-historical legacies, prompting viewers to question the way in which land is navigated and by whose decry.
Waup’s studio-based practice involves the creation of objects which, through symbology and materials, connect her to family, Country, history and story. Lisa works across weaving, printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles and installation, eloquently illustrating her life’s journey through discovery and connection.
Curator Jenna Rain Warwick says while a roadside might not be the first place to look for contemporary art, and that at first Waup’s work may seem understated, further viewing reveals the “pastiche beckons to be decoded, a deciphering that talks to the history of land ownership and the insidious control of colonial authority”.
The exhibition is supported by the Victorian government through Creative Victoria.
