“These works for 14 Benches and an Overworked Microwave (Craft 2018), extend on my continuing interest in kitsch Australiana and Australian cultural identity. Issues of colonialism and multiculturalism are addressed using steel, discarded building waste, imported plastic beads, obscured text and whitewashing. The forms of all three works are the outline of the geographical map of Australia, referencing the ubiquitous shell covered maps found in op-shops all over the country as well as the map shaped acrylic earrings I wore in the 1980’s (mine, proudly, included a chain that ran behind with the map of Tasmania dangling below).

The brooch and the breastplate have an extensive role to play in describing and communicating a wearer’s cultural identity. Brooches adopt the action of a badge creating a direct line of communication between a wearer and an observer. The neckpieces reference the breastplates that were presented to aboriginal elders by the British colonists in an attempt at imposing a European system of social order onto the indigenous inhabitants of Australia. These plates were generally in the form of an inscribed metal plate hung around the neck on a chain.”