weight/wait forms an interrogation of various axes of systemic oppression. Curated by Maya Quinn, in mentorship with Aisyah Aaqil Sumito, weight/wait includes four young artists. Mia Page, Neville, Djilandi and Rain Onsunday bring together varied ways of making such as painting, poetry, installation, sculpture, and writing.
This conversation meets at the axes of transness, queerness, First Nations sovereignty, self-determination and identity on stolen land. The artworks reclaim undervalued mediums often diminished as ‘women’s work’, with the amalgam of textiles and other modes of making such as digital painting and the written/spoken word to centralise gender-nonconformity.
The pieces present identity in the space, with both an installation centred on the physical occupation of the femme body, and a window of introspection into the mapped worlds of country through traditional and cultural ways of painting.
The onus for change imposes an insurmountable weight upon those living at the mouth of oppression, yet it sparks a burgeoning collective desire to resist, to protest and to challenge; to quit waiting for things to change. This exhibition is a small capturing of resistance in the face of such a Sysyphean task, giving expression to the queer experience, unpacking antiquated gender discourse, and centring decolonisation.
Presented by Propel Youth Arts WA, the KickstART Festival has been the flagship event of Youth Week WA for 12 years running. KickstART offers over 60 free events—including workshops, talks, performances, mentorships, exhibitions, markets, and other special events—from 8 to 16 April, for young people aged from 12 to 26. Due to growing concerns about COVID-19 and the anticipated continued spread of Omicron across our communities in Boorloo (Perth) and WA, the Propel team has decided to pivot towards digital and hybrid formats for the delivery of the KickstART Festival this April.
The Youth Week WA KickstART Festival 2022 is presented by Propel Youth Arts WA and is funded by the Government of Western Australia through the Department of Communities and the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. KickstART is also supported by Lotterywest, the City of Perth, the City of Stirling, the City of Fremantle, and the City of Vincent.
Mia Page is a local Boorloo artist working with multimedia including paper, textiles and sculptural materials. Her works are often installation-based and explore themes of sustainability, the body and our relationship with it, trauma and the feminine experience. Their works connect the internal and external through scale, touch and relationships formed between viewer and artwork. Mia has recently graduated from UWA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts where she discovered a love of large-scale installations. She is currently exploring ceramics and the limitations of recycled paper while running her own business, Boronia Street, making earrings out of found children’s toys.
As an artist, Neville works with primarily digital mediums to explore historical religious iconography with contemporary queer themes. As both queer and Catholic, their work explores the overlap between their communities and personal experiences of faith, gender, and sexuality. Neville also works as an art historian and is currently undertaking their thesis on gender diversity in Catholic Renaissance art.
Rain Onsunday is an emerging Māori artist born in Whanganui, Aotearoa, now based out of Walyalup on Whadjuk Noongar boodja. Their multidisciplinary works combine the poetic convention with stitching, acrylic painting, images and other ephemera, to recreate an emotionally immersive experience. Rain draws inspiration from their interpretations of the world around them, with the intent of expressing their own experiences of personal and cultural trauma as a trans/gender non-conforming person of colour; and to increase visibility and understanding of similarly marginalised peoples.
Djilandi (Leanne Dolby) is a proud Yamatji Naaguja, Bard, Yawuru and Gija woman. Their artworks tell stories about existing as a First Nations queer woman in Post-Colonial society. She has been taught the traditional ways of art for 17 years from the Naaguja nation.