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TCB
1-5 Wilkinson St
Brunswick 3056
Victoria, Australia
Thursday-Sunday 12-6pm
TCB acknowledges the people of the Kulin Nations as the traditional custodians of the land, recognising their connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to their Elders; past, present and future.
©2024 TCB Art Inc.
Thank you to our generous sponsors:
SAM PETERSEN
I’M NOT THERE
30 Nov 2017—16 Dec 2017
I thought about waiting outside of TCB, but so sick of waiting outside of things. So probably won’t see me at all.
I tend to find the humour and sadness of things. My work stems from the self and stuff that is close to me. I’m interested in what can be done with one’s fluid self and the space around it. Sadness because of my changing disability – That has permeated all of my work and humour because that is the only way I have of dealing with it.
Some people say my work is of my body and I see their point, but I feel it’s more of the mind, exploring everyday feelings between the rational and the playful.
And like it or not access and the lack of it is also a part of me. Shaping and inspiring my work.
At the moment I’m find the plasticine a great recorder of touch, and then that touch could be put on other things. Also the playfulness of plasticine is something I am really enjoying. Covering or filling up gaps and playing with crevices.
Sam’s experience at TCB's city location:
“TCB Art Incorporated was a space that was far from wheelchair accessible and didn’t address many other access needs. Its entry was in a steep alley and had a few flights of stairs with no rails in many places and no lift.
My exhibition was called ‘I’m Not There’ because I could not be there. That was the reason I said ‘yes’ to having a show in that gallery, so I could make a statement about not being there. It was my brother's idea for me to have an exhibition in an inaccessible gallery.
The idea was very painful to me. So painful that I hadn't thought of it, to have a show in a space I can't physically visit.
TCB seemed like the most logical place, I had known personally many of the artists who had exhibited there and this was quite heartbreaking. Then they offered me a show, the nerve of them, but ‘hey’, I had the idea ready to go,
I know now of many more access needs, but it is still so painful. It ain't a party without me.
At first I thought about having nothing in the exhibition, but that felt too obvious. I had put plasticine on the back of blank canvases so that they couldn’t be seen. Denying the gallery goer of ever viewing it.
And behind the last one I had an audio recording of my first rant, the first version of I'm Not A Good Girl, about inaccessibility. I had recorded it in an accessible toilet because I had nowhere else.
It was amazing how many people still asked at the opening, ‘Where is Sam?’ [In the gallery’s Instagram posts about the exhibition, there were reminders that the gallery was not wheelchair accessible.] They simply could not see the lack of access.
I had them sprinkle yellow glitter all over the floor of the gallery (wee representations). It got everywhere. I like to think that it was the last straw - the glitter. They had been holding on to that place for years, and mine was the last exhibition they showed there.”
www.sampetersen.com.au
Documentation by Amy May Stuart.
Images courtesy of Sam Petersen.
These exhibitions are part of TCB’s Prolegomenon series supported by the City of Melbourne’s Arts Grants Program, Creative Victoria and Hells Kitchen, which encourages intergenerational exchange between emerging and established artists.
