POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

'Australia Day Invasion Day' by Wendy Dunn

Object No. 90/222

This vibrant multi-coloured screenprinted poster was produced at Garage Graphix in the 1980s. Garage Graphix was an important community arts workshop at Mt Druitt in Western Sydney where women artists and designers, including Aboriginal women, were active participants, and community and Aboriginal issues key concerns addressed in the posters. "Garage Graphix Community Arts Group (1980-96) operated in Mt Druitt, a western Sydney suburb with a high Indigenous population. Although the group is described as a 'majority female' collective, poster accreditations reveal only women's names. The collective followed 'affirmative action principles' for the employment and training of women, including Indigenous women (Hall c.1998, 12). Many collectives promoted Indigenous land rights, yet Garage Graphix was possibly the only collective to include Indigenous Australians in its core membership." (1) The Community Arts Board (CAB) of the Australia Council and the Community Cultural Development Board (CCDB) of the Australia Council played a national role in supporting community-based screen printing workshops like Garage Graphix, Red Letter, Another Planet, Lucifoil and other community workshops. These bodies also encouraged and supported community-based sponsor organizations to produce posters. CAB and CCDB programs were artist-focused initially, then became community-focused. Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator, October 2014 Reference: (1) Louise Mayhew, Jillposters Will Be Prosecuted: Australia's women-only print collectives from the 1970s and 1980s. http://fourcolouredstripes.blogspot.com.au/2011_05_01_archive.html (Accessed 2/10/2014)