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Research Process Journal


Research Projects

Research Projects discussed here relate to the broader theme of 'Curating Art Cities' and reflects on aspects of the project in relation to findings and new knowledge during the project. Some of these new concepts may go on to inform projects down the future and in some instances may simply be for the purpose of widening my scope of understanding around the relational aspects of the projects.



Far Flung: Connecting Intergenerational Families

Doncaster, City of Manningham, 2019+

Funded by Creative Victoria - Creative Suburbs

10 weeks x 10 families


Building on my social engagement work, this new project will be developed through a 'social artist in residence' model. As an resident artist, I will work over a 10 week period with 10 local families to develop an art project which will be exhibited at the Manningham Gallery at MC2. The project will focus on new immigrant families in the Doncaster area and seek to recognise and strengthen their relationships with other families in the community through engagement in an art project. The journey of the families will be documented by artist Sofi Basseghi. As a collaborative group the project will be presented as the outcome of the project. In recent years, the Doncaster area has experienced rapid population growth as a result of Melbourne's overall growth. New urban developments in the local area have also attracted many families to the area. This project seeks to focus on the relationship between place and the people who inhabit that place, looking at ways they can connect to their local environment and develop an increased sense of belonging. 


Anonymous Sojourners in the Australian Bush

St Andrews, Victoria, November 2017

Living in the Landscape Public Art Incubator

Nillumbik Shire Council


This public art commission carries through from my work on 'curating inclusive communities' and promoting the right to the city. The project recognises a lost mining history in the St Andrews community paying particular attention to an uncommonly known history of a Chinese mining community buried in the local area. My project focused on bringing together various community partners to research and explore this lost history through a socially engaged public art project. 


The Project

Anonymous Sojourners in the Australian Bush pays attention to a relatively unknown history of a Chinese community buried at the Queenstown Cemetery in the 1850-80s during the St Andrews mining boom. A series of eight boat lanterns were created to pay respect to and acknowledge this uncommonly known history, acting as a gesture of symbolically returning a community never intending to stay. Eight was chosen to reflect the eight inquest reports, eighty or so people buried and eight as a number of prosperity in Chinese culture. The full moon imagery references Li Bai’s Tang Dynasty poem On a Tranquil Night, representing longing for home and family reunion. The project was developed in collaboration with the St Andrews Men’s Shed and in consultation with locals, the St Andrews Historical Society, Wadambuk St Andrews Community Centre, The Wadambuk Arts Group and The Chinese Museum, Melbourne.


On a Tranquil Night 

Besides my bed a pool of light

Is it frost on the ground? 

I lift my eyes and see the moon

I bow my head feeling a longing for home

Li Bai (701-762 BC, translated from Chinese)

Shedagogy: Learning through doing

I partnered on this project with the St Andrew's Men's shed, which I felt would be a suitable partner based on their vision of creating a community space for men to gather and learn from each other and to gain a sense of belonging in their local community and aligned with my own values of the arts playing a role in connecting and engaging communities in meaningful ways. After reading up on the Men's shed movement and how it is uniquely an Australian concept, it was interesting to read about the coining of the term "shedagogy" (rhyming with pedagogy) by education Professor Barry Golding (2014) to describe the process of learning through doing as a preferable educational process for older men. So it was great to find that I had my first experience of shedagogy whilst working on this project. Through research of the adult education sector it was found that older men in Australia generally don't participate as often in formal education, but are more likely to in informal situations such as workshop based activities. It has been an interesting partnership working with a generous community of skilled shed members who are interested in engaging with local histories and collaborating on the process of developing an artwork. Although in regards to a public project, this may have been my first experience of learning through a 'shedagogical' lens, but more informally, learning through my Father often happened in the garage, as I have fond memories of my Father assisting me with woodworking projects, a comfortable place for him until today. What I am finding most interesting is that the project is intergenerational and cross cultural, allowing locals to see their own community in a new light. 

Image: Warwick and Kevin working in the St Andrews Men's shed on the boat lanterns.



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