Rural Utopias Residency: Georgie Mattingley in Karlkula / Kalgoorlie-Boulder #2, ‘Working for Utopia’
Georgie Mattingley is currently working with the community of Karlkula / Kalgoorlie-Boulder. This residency forms part of one of Spaced’s current programs, Rural Utopias.
Georgie Mattingley is a visual artist based in Mparntwe-Alice Springs, Australia, making photographs, paintings, videos and public installations. Her work uses colour and beauty and to make society’s hidden spaces more visible.
Here, Georgie shares update #2, ‘Working for Utopia’
To get to know the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder as a place and a community, I have thrown myself into work. As an artist and in the local labour economy.
I began by facilitating a series of creative workshops, called “Paint a Utopia” at the Goldfields Art Centre, Coolgardie Community Centre and the local high school. I used these workshops as an opportunity to ask participants what they believed a ‘Utopia’ (a perfect place) to be, and how Kalgoorlie-Boulder may be viewed as a Utopia. Most participants responded that Utopia is a place with an element of water, and natural beauty in the landscape. We painted landscapes of waterfalls, snow-capped mountains and pine trees in Bob Ross style.
I also threw myself into the working life of the city. First, I worked as a Skimpy.
A Skimpy is a barmaid who serves beer and drinks wearing lingerie or a 'skimpy' bikini. Skimpies are common throughout pubs in regional WA towns, but particularly in Kalgoorlie. I got the job by asking a local journalist who hires the Skimpies. I was then directed to the dingy sex shop in the centre of town where lies the Skimpy matriarch of the city. I am rostered on with Luna, a talented Skimpy, the best of the best. She’s got it all: the body; the banter; incredible outfits; a whip and some sexy dance moves to get the tips. Skimpies get put up for free in the Palace Hotel - above the Gold Bar, where we’ll be working. So Luna and I have fun getting ready together in our dark and dusty rooms.
I think about how Skimpies are a Utopia. Skimpies create an elaborate fantasy world of parties, money, youth, desire and glamour. They make it look effortless, but believe me, it's not. It's a lot of bloody hard work. I felt privileged to experience the hard grunt of reality behind the scenes of this Utopian facade.
Next, I worked as a offsider for a local prospector.
‘Prospecting' is literally 'looking for gold' and the first stage in the mining process. Local prospecting legend, Chris Potts, generously employed me for one day onsite with his classic trucks and industrial equipment from the 70's, which are still going strong. We dug 130m deep into the Earth, capturing samples from every meter of depth. My job was to bag up piles of dirt as it was brought up by the driller. I then placed each pile in strictly organised rows on the ground nearby. Chris couldn't detect any gold in the soil by eye. The next stage would be to take samples of each pile to the lab for detecting any gold at a microscopic level. If our prospecting endeavours are successful, this plot of land will become another open-cut mine in the future.
With all the Gold and its Skimpies, Kalgoorlie is easily a Utopia. This Utopia is built of grit, economy and labour.
Paint a Utopia workshop at Coolgardie Community Centre (Image: Georgie Mattingley)
Paint a Utopia workshop at Coolgardie Community Centre (Image: Georgie Mattingley)
Luna helping me get ready (Image: Georgie Mattingley)
On shift at the Gold Bar (Image: Georgie Mattingley)
Luna and I at the Gold Bar (Image: Margaret Ellen Burns)
Image: Margaret Ellen Burns
Chris Potts the prospector. (Image: Georgie Mattingley)
