2023 | ISSUE 12 | SJC Newsletter

Homelessness Immersive Art Installation

Mrs Spark’s year 11 Art Creative Practice class has been working with the current Artist in Residence, Lauren Barton over the past five weeks to transform our Pat Bourke Gallery into an immersive art installation. The class selected the social issue of homelessness as their theme and have worked tirelessly to bring together an installation that has a huge visual impact due to the influence of American installation artist, Barbara Kruger. This stylistic influence can be seen in the black, white and red colour palette and the large text and imagery that covers the inside of the representational cardboard box of the gallery walls. Lauren has been a visionary artist to work with and the students learned a lot from the experience. The installation aims to raise awareness of homelessness in Australia and the whole school community is encouraged to quietly walk through the space, read the text and listen to the street soundscape. The exhibition will continue until 31 Aug.

Artist Statement by Lauren Barton

As an Artist in Residence, I was given the opportunity to lend my expertise to the Year 11 Studio Arts Class by working on a collaborative project. The class had decided to focus on the issue of homelessness as their social justice theme, and they hoped to transform their Gallery space accordingly. When I was informed that Barbara Kruger was their influential artist, I was immediately inspired to generate several ideas that would fit perfectly with the homeless theme, incorporating Kruger's signature minimalist colour palette of Red, Black, and White.

One idea that came to mind was to create an immersive installation that would allow the audience to experience the sensation of being inside a large box. To achieve this, we boxed up all the windows and allowed only crepuscular rays of light to enter. Drawing inspiration from Kruger, we came up with bold statements and thought-provoking questions that would encourage the audience to ponder their response to the issue of homelessness. Additionally, we used Red, Black & White tape to cover the entire gallery space, further emphasising Kruger's colour palette while highlighting the importance of found objects that can be used to conceal the changing environments of people living on the streets.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience that pushed the students beyond their comfort zones while creating an artistic experience that was heavily influenced by Kruger's work. Our goal was to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness in Australia and provide viewers with a controlled experience that would enable them to empathise with the struggles of those who are affected by it.

Lauren Barton