Sleeping Under Houses
A large drawing project, supported by Creative Australia's Disability Initiative Award, this work focuses on the current housing crisis that is happening all over Australia and even many parts of the world. Rentals are impossible to get, with rents being so high and less houses available, and buying houses is just way too expensive while peoples' incomes have not risen enough, and interest rates have shot through the roof. Chelle wants to discuss through her drawing, printmaking and mixed media practices the concerns of Australians and how many used to have a home whether that was rental or owned now no longer do, either moving back in with family (parents, etc), couch surfing, sleeping in tents or their cars. "We did not imagine this would ever happen in our country, but it has and it makes me angry!" Chelle surmises that if the housing market breaks, then things will change. This has to happen.
Below: I decided to start off this poignant project by doing a set of works on paper combining drawing, collage, printmaking and with sculptural elements, on corrugated cardboard. This triptych below is the summary of memory and what has been lost in a short time for so many. Chelle walked through her home town, Wonthaggi, Victoria and discovered many back alleyways, which reminded her of the old days of the 1980s - 90s when it was just easy to get a home. play in the backyards and on the streets, and people had "new" objects. Now much of it all is broken down, rundown, old, junkish, and even the environment is suffering. The world is in distress, when you stand back and look at the whole picture.
