Out of shadows: Australian multicultural shiftscapes
Date
2013
Authors
Hill, A.
Editors
Jakubowicz, A.
Ho, C.
Ho, C.
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Book chapter
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Source details - Title: For those who've come across the seas: Australian multicultural theory, policy and practice, 2013 / Jakubowicz, A., Ho, C. (ed./s), Ch.5, pp.57-67
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Abstract
Within the cultural arena, the arts have been riven with tensions, not the least between those arts which occupy the mainstream and draw the bulk of public resources, and arts which exist outside those sanctioned modalities of practice and categories of artefacts. Whatever the practice and location, we should never lose sight of the fact that the arts primarily are not about the works per se so much as they are about what the works cause to occur. They are not simply objects and events to be consumed in isolation, but catalysts to shift social perception and activity. Within the territory occupied by marginalised groups, the cultural expression of diverse communities, and the artists working alongside them, remain constrained and suppressed by institutions, and often relegated to a context of 'community art', rather than being objectively evaluated within the professional, mainstream arts arena. This chapter therefore examines a series of arts projects run between 1986 and 2011, and outlines the vision that each had for an evolving Australia, seen through the eyes of their constituent communities. It also examines the work of one of Australia's newest emerging artists as she resists traditional classification and moves into the mainstream. Finally, it attempts to relate the issues drawn out by these projects and to describe how each contributes to communicating the principles of an arts practice for a multicultural Australia.
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Copyright 2013 the author