Garage Graphix was an Australian community group of women artists, active between 1981 and 1998. It included an Aboriginal Arts Program (1983 - 1984), which was led by Aboriginal arts workers, and it was the first of its kind in Australia; it employed

Alice Hinton-Bateup Alice Hinton-Bateup is an Australian artist and print-maker. In the 1980s she was active in Garage Graphix Community Art Group, a print workshop in Mt. Druitt, Sydney, which included a number of Aboriginal artists. They produced posters that b ...

and undertook commissions and design work for Aboriginal organisations around Sydney.

History

Based in Mount Druitt,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Garage Graphix was a community group of women artists committed to creating a space for members to freely express their cultural heritage and identity and it was established with support from

Blacktown City Council Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

. It evolved from Mt Druitt Street Art Workers, a loose art collective who created various community mural projects in

Lethbridge Park Lethbridge Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 47 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the G ...

in 1981 and hosted cultural events. In 1981 a Management Committee was formed and was created in the garage of an opera singer and it was adjacent to the community centre. The development was described by early key members and coordinators as follows: A screen printing workshop and design space, the "Garage" produced political and affirmative action posters during the 1980s related to Indigenous Land Rights, Indigenous Women's rights, and other women's rights issues. Garage Graphix exhibited along with Redback Graphix at University Fine Arts Gallery in 1988 in an exhibition titled ''Shocking Diversity''. The "Garage" operated on the principle that "the people of Western Sydney have the right to play an active role in the way their culture develops".Information leaflet, "Garage Graphix", n.d.. Garage Graphix: Art & Artist Files, held in the National Gallery of Australia Research Library & Archive Collection. Facilities provided included a photocopier, photographic darkroom, process camera, layout and design area, screen printing workshop, and t-shirt printing "jig". It closed due to a number of factors including a loss of key staff, a reduced focus and funding from government and screen-printing beginning to be viewed as 'old technology'. When the Garage closed its archives, including objects, records and approximately 400 posters, were placed in storage at Blacktown City Council. In 2021, through the assistance of a Community Heritage Grant, made available by the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

, a significance assessment of this collection was completed. The Powerhouse Museum holds over 50 prints by Garage Graphix in its collection including ''Dispossessed'' (1980s) a poster by Alice Hinton-Bateup. This work includes text and focuses on the forced relocation of Aboriginal people ( Kamilaroi/ Wonnarua) and their loss of

connection to Country The concept of country, as an identity or descriptive quality, varies widely across the world, although some elements may be common among several groups of people. Rurality One interpretation is the state or character of being rural, regardles ...

. Hinton-Bateup's ''Ruth's Story (''1988) is included in the National Gallery of Australia's travelling exhibition Know My Name which aims to increase the representation of women artists.{{Cite web , title=Know My Name: Australian Women Artists , url=https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/know-my-name-australian-women-artists/touring-portal/ , access-date=2024-02-10 , website=National Gallery of Australia , language=en

References

Australian artist groups and collectives Australian artists 1981 establishments in Australia

History

Further reading

References