Rural Utopias Residency: Tina Stefanou in Carnamah #4
Tina Stefanou is currently working with the community of Carnamah. This residency forms part of one of Spaced’s current programs, Rural Utopias.
Tina Stefanou is an Australian-Greek artist based on Wurundjeri country in Wattle Glen, Victoria. With a background as a vocalist, she works undisciplined, with and across a diverse range of mediums, practices, approaches and labours: an embodied practice that she calls voice in the expanded field. Informed by diasporic experiences, Stefanou engages in sound as social practice and explores with and beyond the all-too-human and more-than-human voice.
Here, Tina shares the first update from stage 2 of her residency…
Open studio in Carnamah: Building a collective skin for the agribusiness dag.
As the heat of the day reaches its peak, the body yearns for rest as the digestive system grinds away at the remnants of lunch. Dags, skin, and wool surround us and I feel a sense of bodily discomfort, as my nose begins to twitch and my eyes water. The image of a Madonna crying over the body of a lamb conjures a sense of mourning, a lament for the paradox inflicted upon these gentle creatures.
But beware, for the artist can also be a wolf in sheep's clothing, a machine churning out deadly content for the insatiable appetites of capitalism's silos. In the company of Doona, and James we hypothesise worlds where we are the moral dictators, wielding power over life and death. Our radical thoughts manifest in the form of public hangings for mining tyrants or the banishment of private property in favour of communal gardens.
In this moment, these two worlds coexist, one of violent retribution and the other of communal harmony. The wool we handle is oily and full of seeds, a reminder of the creature from which it came. Its fibres and smells enchanting the fingers, however once pricked by the needle, a physical reflex momentarily interrupts the workers trance; like the bush doof that suddenly stops in the middle of a shearing session.
As I listen to the rhythmic sound of seed stitching and the captivating tales of rural life, I can't help but sense a conflicting vapour that is interwoven into the very fabric of the wool. Each shed is like a concert hall filled with stories of struggle and triumph, and the many hands working together create a sense of lightness that offers a brief respite from the weight of the world. However, as we contemplate the ideas of commoning and the magic of collective labour, we must also consider the larger picture of global and local power relations and the exploitation of workers, animal, land, and resources. It's like a big tractor that creeps in between the words of people who are simply trying to make a living in the diverse modes of agribusiness industry.
Images courtesy of the artist.
