Immersive street-art show celebrates community

GEELONG artist Laura Alice’s latest exhibition Kin is an immersive exploration of the interconnectedness of communities and a celebration of three people in the region who typify that existence.

The mixed media show on a large Fenwick Street wall owned by Elaine and Anthony Costa opened last Thursday (May 19) and includes three of Ms Alice’s painted portraits that can then be viewed through a smart phone app that takes the works to a new dimension.

“Each artwork has an augmented reality layer that when viewed through a smart phone app comes to life with birds flying past, butterflies, voices of young people in sound design,” Ms Alice said of the augmented-reality technology that’s employed in the works.

“They blink, breathe and move.”

The core of the show, Ms Alice said, is interconnectedness.

“Each artwork has been integrated with the communities that hold them … so often we live in this celebrity culture where people are put on pedestals and just as quickly taken down.”

The self-described street artist’s three portrait subjects are Tarryn Love, a proud Gunditjimara Keeray Woorrong woman who grew up on Wadawurrung country and is committed to exploring the theoretical and political value of First Nation arts practice and her mob.

The second portrait is Quinn Earth Child, a queer permaculturalist, artist and musician who focuses on inspiring radical sustainable change in the northern suburbs of Geelong and the Friends of Cowies Creek, and the last image is of Mutheinchri, a Karenni refugee studying to become a certified translator and helping others like her to excel in the region.

“This exhibition is about showing people from grass root communities and celebrating them … communities for me is the earth in which great people can grow, the soil,” Ms Alice said.

Complementing the immersive works are soundscapes produced by the subjects, both Quinn and Mutheinchri recorded songs for the project about regeneration, looking after the earth and community.

“Mutheinchri also sung a song with her brother that was a blessing for her people, it basically translates to no matter where you are, you are loved and precious,” Ms Alice said of the Karenni women who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand.

Geelong MP Christine Couzens described the new street art as a “wonderful” addition to Geelong’s central arts and culture precinct.

“This installation shows the contribution our young leaders are making to engage the community through street art … it demonstrates the benefits of inclusion in our community,” she said.

Supported by the Bluebird and Anthony Costa foundations, the exhibition is ongoing and free to the public.