KOCHI — The Kochi-Muziris Biennale made worldwide headlines when it opened on December 12 — as India’s first biennale, the three-month long Kerala-based event signifies the area’s debut of a major international contemporary art platform. But on December 19, it received a different kind of press when a large charcoal mural by Australian artist Daniel Connell was defaced by unknown vandals, who attacked the work by rubbing it with a burnt coconut husk and water.
The work done for The KMB has been a tremendous opportunity to engage with the elite of the contemporary art world. I have been working alongside and engaging with artists such as Fiona Hall, Hossein Valamanesh, Ariel Hassan, Jonas Staal, Vivan Sundaram, Mandy Ridley, Di Ball, Vexta, Gigi Scaria and many others.
My proposal began as a collateral project but was elevated to the main listing after it continued to consistently draw large local crowds and became a successful example of local engagement ameliorating some of the alienation that the new and strange thing called a Biennale can create.
I am extremely fortunate to be here and thank and congratulate the Biennale directors Bose Krishnacharya and Ryas Chomu for their personal support for the project.
Fort Kochi is a fishing centre each day the fisher men walk past the very old wall i am working on. Yesterday they were proud to share the catch of the day.
A poster created using images of my work that is appearing around Fort Kochi.
Presentation at the International Association for Suicide Prevention Conference, Hyatt Chennai
I was honoured by an invitation by Professor Nicholas Proctor, chair of Mental Health at the University of South Australia and senior advisor to the Federal Minister of Immigration Chris Bowen, on refugee mental health and Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and to present my work at this very high profile conference held at the Chennai Hyatt.
Alongside big pharmaceutical companies promoting the pharmacological side of mental health treatment was my work, introducing a new material to the discourse on suicide prevention.
Professor Proctor’s work regularly refers human connectedness as a first line protective measure against suicide. This is where my work sits. The portrait projects are being seen as a material way of encouraging a sense of belonging and human networks particularly for people experiencing dislocation and alienation.
This opportunity gave my work a new resonance and introduced in the Arte Util spectrum.
To see the arts as a viable non-pharmacological form of addressing the problem of disconnectedness within communities was extremely valuable. The time spent with Professor Proctor in Chennai also gave me a rare and valuable opportunity to understand his work with refugees in detention centers and his research in this extremely important area of public health.
Beginning in October 2012, the Australian Government will join with 24 government, business, institutional and production partners to present OZ Fest – the biggest Australian cultural festival ever staged in India.
The University of South Australia Human Rights Research and Innovation Cluster ( HRSR&IC ) have conducted an associated program for OZ Fest, which has included public art events and school workshops in Rural Rajasthan, Assam and the slums of Mumbai. The program has forged genuine relationships and witnessed Indian ingenuity in the social sector, which will invigorate research in areas of real impact for communities in Australia and India.
Lynette Kelly Program Leader: Research and Innovation Cluster Initiative, UniSA and Daniel Connell a leadership member of HRSR&IC and internationally known Australian visual artist who works between India and Adelaide will conduct the following program:
Following the success of the Oz Asia Festival’s REFLECT exhibition, Daniel Connell and the Ramta Drig collective reunited in Jodhpur to create a one day public drawing event in the creative home of Ramta Drig. Faces drawn in charcoal emerged on the old town walls in a public square in Jodhpur while traditional musicians sang about the new Right to Information Act.
A short trip to Guwahati to visit a South Australian link with a local education initiative the Parijat Academy, Resulted in a video called WE ARE PARIJAT. Made by the children students through Daniels workshop.
Through the documentary film the Sound of Mumbai, screened by UniSA’s Human Rights and Security and Healthy Kids Research and Innovation Clusters earlier this year, a link was made with the featured school run by the world renowned NGO Muktangan. Muktangan trains teachers in child-centered learning and progressive pedagogies for impoverished areas and then employs them in its equally dynamic, child-focused schools. On behalf of the University of South Australia, Daniel Connell ran two day long workshops on teaching creativity and then a painting session called Heroes of the Community The workshop was visited by the entourage of the Premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill.
In association with KMB, Daniel Connell will create the project called LOOKING BACK. It will use a blend of paste-up and street drawings to explore the links between indigenous Australia and South India. Over two weeks three large size faces will emerge to ‘look back’ in goodwill and understanding not only at passers-by but over 1000’s of years when India and Australia were just an island hop away and populations merged.
It tells of young people making new lives in faraway lands and of the old lives they left behind.
With this OzAsia Festival having an Indian theme, Connell has dipped into Adelaide’s Indian community and found Sikhs who have moved to Adelaide and, despite myriad academic qualifications, taken up work as taxi and delivery drivers.
Their turbans make them stand out from the crowd.
“I’ve even been called a… Read full article here
Article by Adelaide Now
South Australia Chinese Weekly has announced its 15th Anniversary Function – a Banquet Dinner to celebrate Second Generation Asian-Australians.
The function will include a preview of Daniel Connell’s latest project, ‘Second Generation’, which will feature large scale portraitures; 3 x 1.75m drawings in charcoal on paper of the second generation Asian-Australians, along with photography of the first generations. The construction of the drawings will be filmed and be used as wall projections in public.
The celebration will be held on 4th August, 2012 starting at 6.30pm at the Queens Theatre, Playhouse Lane.
For more information, download the official Media Release here or visit www.sacw.com.au.
