By Melanie Bakewell
Recipients of a Wyndham Arts Development grant are hoping to build a sustainable foundation for a grassroots arts collective in Melbourne’s western region.
Zoe Jones, a textile and fibre artist, Amal Laala, a photographer and arts educator with a socially-engaged practice, and Jasmeet Sahi, a writer and arts producer, first met at the in-person arts lab Wunder Gym, run by Wyndham City Council.
They started to compare their experiences as artists in the west, finding a common yearning for community connection.
“It is tricky to find that.There’s very limited opportunities in the west,” says Zoe.
“There’s exhibitions, there’s outcome-based events. You can go to openings to meet people, but that’s the only inkling of community. And I just feel like there was a bit of a gap in programs that bring people together for the sake of bringing them together.”
The collective also wants to challenge the conceptual boundaries of the ‘west,’ well beyond the inner suburbs.
“There is so much more all the way out to Geelong and past Geelong and this whole western region just gets totally forgotten,” says Amal.
“We come from and live in places like Altona North, Altona-Meadows, Laverton, Werribee, Bellerine,” says Jasmeet. “We know people are doing work there, but we want to rustle it up, come together and do something collaborative. Or just meet, just gather.”
Their conversations prompted the trio to apply for funding from Wyndham Council. Part of the grant will go towards research and development into artist collectives and community mapping of arts spaces across the western region.
Jasmeet describes a map in the magazine Art Guide, which dedicates a few pages to the Victorian suburbs of Collingwood, Richmond and Brunswick, but has no offerings for the western region.
“It’s just silence. Where is this side? Where are the galleries here? Where are the Artist Run Initiatives? How many spaces are there where you just go and create and make, and that’s the thing that you do?”
For Amal, whose arts practice is community based and socially-engaged, getting together with others is a necessity:
“When you get more in depth with people, that’s when really things start to flourish because you can kind of see more where they’re coming from. You can see different viewpoints, rather than just going in there with your exhibition or your work and your view,” she says.
Jasmeet says a lot of arts funding gets pumped into the west via large organisations seeking to collaborate or bring in other artists, but that there just aren’t that many grassroots opportunities for local artists. Amal agrees.
“I still feel like there is not this grassroots coming up. There are some organisations, or different council things that happen, but that’s very different from when it’s ground up. This is what we want, is what we need as artists, as creatives,” says Amal.
The collective also wants to advocate for financial support and paid opportunities for artists.
“We were so drawn to each other on that conversation – trying to value people through their time and through monetary ways, and working out systems and ways of actually doing that because it’s a career, it’s not just your hobby,” Amal explains.
“We’re hoping to be that launchpad into finding your community as an artist, but also to set an example for how funding should be dispersed,” says Zoe.
The collective, who are calling themselves Holding Time and Space, will also build an online presence to connect with western region artists and events and facilitate gatherings.
“We don’t need to wait for other people to come to the west to be able for things to happen. There’s things happening, and we just need to be a little bit gentle and a little bit caring of what’s happening here already for it to flourish,” says Amal.
For updates, follow @holdingtimeandspace on instagram.
