Chris Williams & Green Brigade, Field of the Unwanted (2018-19)
Rosie Halsmith
Artists: Chris Williams & Green Brigade Work: Field of the Unwanted (2018-19) Partners: DADAA and St Patrick’s Community Support Centre Location: Fremantle, Western Australia
Transforming a razed demolition site in central Fremantle, Field of the Unwanted was an unconventional garden, calling attention to the unwelcome and undesirable.
Presented by Spaced and DADAA in collaboration with St Patrick’s Community Support Centre, Field of the Unwanted uses weeds or “plants that grow where they are not wanted” to question the hierarchies of value and displacement experienced by members of our own communities.
Field of the Unwanted elevated the status of weeds in the formation of an ordered garden that created a home for the unwanted. A weed rescue and resettlement service led by the project artists, collected weeds from Fremantle, surrounding suburbs and private residences, relocating them to a cultivated vacant lot on Queen Victoria Street, Fremantle. Acting as custodians of the various weed plots, the artists and the surrounding community worked to tend, grow and create an emerging installation, caring for the weeds till the end of their lifespan.