Diaspora-Making Machines

Diaspora and its wave of cultural dispersal and change is no new visitor to Australia. And for the multicultural community of Blacktown it is this experience of Diaspora – the movement of people outside their original homeland to Australia – that is a unifying thread. With this as a starting point, Diaspora-Making Machines brings together seven artist projects - Blak Douglas, Jumaadi, Mewish Iqbal, Susannah Williams and Warren Armstrong, and Luping Zeng and Cheng Zeng - to navigate the growing complexity of diaspora and its systematic processes of change in multicultural Australia.

Curated by Paul Howard, the exhibition Diaspora-Making Machines derives its title from a term coined by South African-born of Indian heritage, British citizen living in Germany, art historian, Sarat Maharaj, in an essay published in Australia in 1999. Maharaj was describing Vasco da Gama’s 15th Century ship navigating the African continent and Indian subcontinent – a mega diaspora-making machine of the twentieth century. The ship as a machine brings into motion the logic of diaspora, which is directed by the organisation of power and governance.

Drawing from this idea of flux and flow stimulated by a machine, the exhibition, as Howard explains, “explores the underlying systemic devices that generate motion through a range of contemporary artists’ projects that reflect the themes of dispersal and scattering of communities”.

For Aboriginal artist Blak Douglas, his work explores the arrival of diasporic newcomers and the impact the machinations of modernity upon the natural landscape. The works highlight the enigmatic presence of the diaspora machine, as the artist outlines, it “references Captain Cook’s arrival and Captain Phillip steering the first seven vessels into the harbour. It was reputed that the Cadigal people hardly flinched but rather ‘kept about their fishing as if not to notice’. Therefore the Diaspora-Making Machine to me is like a landmine. One knows it’s there but one hopes you’ll never encounter it.”

On a personal note, Nerine Martini reflects upon the emotional effects of diaspora – memories of home, belonging and up-rootedness. Drawing upon the symbolic imagery of the anchor, Martini has created a sculpture made out of cheap carry bags. Whilst the anchor represents safety and security, the chequered plastic carry all bags associate with the poverty and mobility of mass migrations.

Ranging from epic painting series by Luping Zeng, to soundscapes and interactive installations by Susannah Williams and Warren Armstrong, and a large bridal bed titled ‘Stage of Love’ by Jumaadi – the exhibition is posed to stimulate and engage with the depth and complexity of diaspora. The artists are not only engaging with Blacktown’s historical place of waves of migration, but also with the current mass-migrations that are occurring globally.

Diaspora-Making Machines promises to be an insightful exploration of the processes of diaspora on both a local level, and on a national scale as new groups arrive and lower the anchor in Australia everyday.

EXHIBITION
Diaspora-Making Machines
29 September – 5 November 2016
Blacktown Arts Centre

Courtesy Blacktown Arts Centre and the artists.