WA-wide Open Borders art project involves 15 local communities

It's a word that Australians, and in particular Western Australians, have become very familiar hearing in recent years as governments took steps to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Along with closing Australian borders with the rest of the world, WA had a lengthy hard border with the rest of the country, as well as regional borders dividing up the State early on in the pandemic.

And it is the impact of those borders that Annette Davis thought may be an interesting concept to explore, when asked to suggest a theme for an ambitious Statewide regional arts project.

Ms Davis is an Albany-based independent curator and has been travelling around the regions over the past six months to 15 communities that have participated in Open Borders.

She was lead curator for the project, which comprises 12 exhibitions, two performances and a film.

It was her opportunity to see how the local groups had taken on her advice and guidance, because for many it was their first time being involved with a curated exhibition, and for that matter a group exhibition.

"It is quite a rare opportunity for regional artists to be able to participate in a curated group exhibition," Ms Davis said.

She said while the impetus for the initial theme was inspired by a curiosity to see how artists viewed COVID-19 restrictions and what their creative response was to it, the brief allowed for a much broader scope.

"Some communities have really taken their own slant on the theme, some have refined it a bit more, while others have made it more relevant to their own location," she said.

"It was a really interesting experience, each community had its own flavour."

For example, a recent exhibition in Narrogin had a sub-theme of 'Between confinement and liberation', while Margaret River's was titled 'Emergences'.

The range of mediums used was also varied, and included sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, video, audio, installations and photography.

"It's been amazing travelling around and it's been a real privilege to meet all the artists, because there's nothing like hearing direct from an artist about the background to a piece and the nuances behind it," she said.

Participating communities included Geraldton, Broome, Dwellingup, Carnamah, Denmark, Esperance, Kununurra, Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Northcliffe, Margaret River, Ravensthorpe, Gascoyne, Perth and Narrogin.

From those regional exhibitions, Ms Davis will help choose about 40 art works to be exhibited at the John Curtin Gallery, in Perth, in August.

The space is one of WA's foremost public art galleries and therefore being hung represents a very prestigious honour for the selected artists.

Understandably Ms Davis was not expecting it to be a very easy decision to make selections from the close to 200 entries, and enlisted the help of John Curtin Gallery deputy director Jane King and collection manager Lia McKnight, who each attended six of the exhibitions which began in July last year and have only just come to an end in recent weeks.

Ms Davis said after each exhibition they had talked about the entrants and made a shortlist.

In March they will come together and review all of the exhibition experiences and will attempt to curate an overall exhibition for the John Curtin Gallery that will make connections between the communities, and draw out the themes the artists may have used.

Artworks were created by artists who are just starting out as well as those who are more well-established, and Ms Davis said that would be part of the challenge to capture the range of experience within the selected pieces.

The success of the regional exhibitions has been pleasing for project co-ordinator Fiona Sinclair, as they form part of a broader project called Mycelium, an initiative of the Southern Forest Arts, of which Ms Sinclair is artistic director and general manager.

Ms Sinclair said Mycelium was a connection and collaboration project in the regional arts sector of WA to nurture resilience, sustainability and vibrancy during the pandemic, while also building on the first iteration The Alternative Archive project held from 2018-2021.

"Open Borders is part of a three-year cycle in which we are looking to interconnect regional arts, and create a shared conversation on a different theme," Ms Sinclair said.

She said while participants were getting exposure within their local communities, the opportunity to have work exhibited in and acknowledged by such a prestigious gallery was important for the artists' career pathways.

"It will show people living in the city the depth of expertise that is out there in regional communities," she said.

"They often don't know what is happening out there, but there are incredibly adventurous, dedicated, rigorous artists worthy of wider recognition in regional WA."

The expanded brief for artists enabled them to use different mediums, including film and dance, which meant more people could be involved in the process.

Ms Sinclair said projects, such as Open Borders, were also a way of building the capacity of and supporting local curators to tell their own story with local artworks, rather than having exhibitions "parachuted in" from outside the region.

"As a landscape, regional WA is like many different countries, with people living vastly different lives and artists need opportunities to share their diversity and celebrate that within the wider arts community," she said.

Ms Sinclair said she was looking forward to seeing the pieces selected for the overall exhibition at John Curtin Gallery later this year.