RIPAIRIAN [2023 – ]

Vahri McKenzie and Gemma Ben-Ary, 2024, Iso Dawn. Photograph by Christopher Canato.

During a 9-week residency at Midland Junction Arts Centre, Vahri McKenzie and Gemma Ben-Ary developed a series of new performance art experiments and fibre-woven artworks in conversation with a site near Mandoon Bilya/Helena River. Inspired by walks near the waterway and supported by historical and cultural research, we drew on the participatory nature of graffiti culture to generate new images for river repair. ‘Ripairian’ plays on ‘riparian’, relating to riverbanks and adjacent wetlands, and our efforts to repair this hard-used place that is worthy of artistic attention.

Top: Vahri McKenzie and Gemma Ben-Ary, 2024, W-OFF. Left: Vahri McKenzie and Gemma Ben-Ary, 2024, Wide Birth. Right: Vahri McKenzie and Gemma Ben-Ary, 2024, Follow the Lead. Photographs by Christopher Canato.

Our residency produced work clustered into 3 themes: WEEDS, GRAFFITI, RUBBISH

Left: Vahri McKenzie, W/ON/W/OFF, 2024. Full body eco-print with botanical inks made from invasive species on woollen undergarments. Photograph by Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon. Right: Board members from BoorYul-Bah-Bilya view installation of colour swatches of botanical inks made from invasive species on recycled linen garment. Photograph by Midland Junction Arts Centre.

Vahri McKenzie, 2024. Film stills from slideshow demonstrating the full body eco-print technique in conversation with graffiti write-ups at Woodies.

Vahri McKenzie, Trash Tale, 2024, Video work, 13:55mins duration. This video documents the performance, Trash Tail (2024), in which the artist walks Mandoon Bilya with a tail made from rubbish collected from the dry river beds. With thanks to Michelle Hall for additional videography and Michael Terren for audio mastering.

Foreground: Vahri with a visitor to MJAC.

Background: Vahri McKenzie & Gemma Ben-Ary, Trash Tail, 2024. Recycled linen garment printed with botanical inks and lino-cut design with tails made from rubbish collected during Vahri’s performance Trash Tail (2024). Photograph by Midland Junction Arts Centre.

The artists have developed unique identifying tags applied with ecologically sound materials: flour-paste, paper, mineral clay, earth pigment. Left: Vahri McKenzie, Eco-tag at Woodies, 2024. Right: full body eco-print [detail] and graffiti, 2023. Photograph by Lyndsay Humphries.

GASP and Vahri McKenzie, W/ON/W/OFF work-in-progress at Woodies. Photograph by Gemma Ben-Ary.

This project was supported by:

  • Midland Junction Arts Centre Artists’ Residency with Gemma Ben-Ary
  • WAAPA Small Research Grant ($2910), Ripairian: the language edition with Gemma Ben-Ary (Collaborating across Country and cultures)

Public talks and social media: