EMERGING ARTISTS COLLECTIVE
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EMERGING ARTISTS COLLECTIVE *
AUXE EXHIBITION
Written and interviewed by Aideen Gallagher (she/her)
Naarm
I’ve grown used to walking down Smith Street in Collingwood with my head turned slightly left. I like to peer through the passing glass and spy on the colourful collectives within. Over and over, I catch glimpses of sipping faces, sometimes dancing, sometimes laughing. The Friday evening walk from Alexandra Parade to Belfry Bar is a flip book of microcultures. Receptivity to new ideas is part of Melbourne’s allure.
Often, those networks are fostered through groups such as the Emerging Artists Collective, helping to cultivate accessibility for many fledgling creatives.
The Emerging Artists Collective was founded in 2021 by Roberta Govoni, Kat Stevens and George Jefford. Their purpose is to support small-scale creatives by hosting mixed exhibitions, enabling artists to showcase their work and expand their audience.
Most recently, they presented Auxe – a blended array of 20 visual artists accompanied by local DJs. Hosted at the Belfry’s three-story niche, pieces were curated from the venue’s ground floor and up the narrow staircase.
I arrived at the venue around 7:45. By 8 pm, each room was cosy and bustling. I dodged bodies whilst ascending the stairs towards the third floor. Circling around the room’s bare brick interior, I gravitated toward the aggressively pink and playfully provocative work of Diva Scum.
Diva Scum (she/her) is a Naarm-based visual artist whose photography embraces the best of what gaudy has to offer – brazen, flashy and fun. Fusing spooky, slutty and stylish, her artwork feels rightly audacious and equally camp. Self-described as ‘theatrical portraiture’, the narrative-style collections explore gender performance and relationships in an exaggerated fashion using set, props, and costume.
Following the exhibition, I spoke with Diva Scum to learn more about her process and the intention behind her chosen style.
Your work is predominantly photography-based. Have you always been drawn to photography as an artist? What do you enjoy most about the medium?
I have always found photography to be the artistic medium that comes most naturally to me. Almost all of my artwork emerges from some source of photographic inspiration or incorporates photography in one way or another. I love the versatility of the medium – the immediacy of digital compared to the patience of analogue. There is so much about photography that I am yet to learn, which continues to provide a sense of play to every shoot I do. The medium further acts as a really great collaborative tool to connect with others and I love that social aspect of shared creativity.
How do you develop your ideas for a shoot? Are there places or processes that help shape your thinking?
My ideas come to me in a variety of different ways, whether that is from film or TV, music I’ve heard, a book I’ve read, a conversation I’ve had, or an intimate moment I’ve shared. If I don’t have an initial source of inspiration, I find that making a mind map, creating a mood board, or writing helps me figure out the intention of the work and what is needed to achieve what I wish to make. When I’m in a creative rut, going for a walk, seeing friends or attending a gallery is a great way to reset my mind.
Are there any artists or aesthetics that have inspired your style?
Some artists who have been incredibly influential to me include Cindy Sherman, Pierre et Gilles, James Bidgood and Petra Collins to name a few. These creatives all explore aspects of artificial realities, which I gravitate towards. A variety of aesthetics inspire my style such as the raw quality and over-saturation of 90s photography, print media and vintage advertising from the 60s/70s, and exploring the female gaze through hyper-feminine colour palette and design. I have always been a great admirer of theatre and stage production, which I think comes across in my work. This is reflected by the characteristic motif of the clown seen in many artworks as a symbol of performative expression and vulnerability juxtaposed against comedy.
After speaking with Diva Scum, I continued through the rooms. I soon drifted towards Anh’s drippy visual projection and fluid purple-blue forms.
Anh (she/her) is another visual artist based in Naarm. Her work is inspired by surrealism and expressionism and feels as intense as it is soft. Using water as a motif to reflect the inner self, she plays with a mixture of thicker edges and bleeding colours to produce layers of texture and depth.
I reached out to Anh to find out more.
Has water always featured in your art or has this manifested over time? Why is this something you are drawn toward? How has your background shaped your relationship and association with water?
My obsession with water manifested over time. I'm drawn to it because I am intrigued by its transient nature and the forms it takes, and the ideas that come with it in connection to human nature, such as how water retains memory, humans are 70-90% water etc. With the ways my background has shaped my association with water: My emotions, thoughts and memories 'influence' the shape and level of the ripples, and I feel that connection with my art as I materialise water's nature with my flow of senses. It is also therapeutic when I do these acts of self-expression onto paper, as I follow the flow and bring out my inner self.
What inspires you when drawing?
It's mostly personal events that I want to express and connecting them with certain inspired forms or movements of water to match those moments as my works are autobiographical. Also, I am very drawn to the themes of surrealism and expressionism. The two artists, Frida Khalo and Cocobee Art, have inspired me to start creating personal works with elements of flow.
Can you name a piece of your art that you are most proud of? Why?
I know the question asks for [just] one, but I honestly can't pick between these two works. One of them is called ‘Eyes in Soap’. While there are some aspects of the piece I'm a bit picky with, it was a big coloured portrait artwork (it was an A3 piece, to some people it's not that big but to me it is) done with mostly pencil (with some watercolour), as I usually draw smaller pieces with pencil and there were a lot of challenging parts such as painting and drawing the soap, and it took days to complete. The other one I'm happy with is a very old drawing from years ago, and it doesn't relate to the stuff I do now, but it was a realistic drawing of a tiger. It's because of the amount of detail and effort put into that drawing, and it also took a long time to complete, and every time I look at it, I'm like ‘wow…will I ever achieve that level again?’
Grassroots groups like the Emerging Artists Collective create the necessary footing new artists need to have their work seen. One of the greatest rewards of making art is the opportunity to share it, and so access to an audience can both motivate and empower.
The Auxe exhibition had a welcoming energy that made meeting new people feel effortless. The sold-out venue, flowing drinks and ebullient crowd were a reminder of the warmth and receptivity amongst the community existing behind and empowering emerging artists.