Jo Shand
The peaceful crush of the Velvet Revolution; the black power salute from the winners’ podium; diggers on the barricades at Eureka, their demands for democracy cleaving an old order in two. The Arab Spring with its 24/7 media updates; Fidel and the fight of his life; the Bastille stormed to the howls of the underclass…
Our world is riven by revolution: rebellion, systematic oppression, a little coup d’etat, an instance of intifada – all pulsing, churning and erupting. We are bound by insurrection, insurgence, mutiny, protest and riot: to be heard, to be seen, to force change, the revolution is the last stand, a virulent vantage point for a new future.
From the old French word revolvere [to roll back] and the Latin revolutio [a turn around], revolution is born from an internal mutiny, and it is unpredictable and inevitable. As the world turns – its own revolution around a blazing sun an elliptical journey about an axis of time and space – we ache for change, for representation, our voices the maligned heroes of alienation and revolt.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that the “tree of liberty” must be watered by the “blood of patriots and tyrants”. Dolores Ibárruri, the antifascist leader in the Spanish civil war, said, “It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees”. Revolutions are to our species what experimentation is to science: a way of pressing forward, a way to change and grow. They are a necessity.
In a world where consumerism trivialises the very idea of revolution and degrades it to the point of obscurity – “a revolution in skincare!” “push back against the norm – let your accessories help you stand out!”– perhaps the rebel yell is the final stand, the holler of a million voices breaking with the strain.
And let it be heard: we will not be silenced. Our voices and our feet and our presence will fill a thousand spaces a thousand times with a thousand left to spare.
Hear us. Fear us. We cry “more”.
OPENING NIGHT: FRIDAY MAY 19th, 6-9pm
SHOW RUNS: MAY 20-26th by appointment
INNER WEST OPEN STUDIO TRAIL: SUNDAY 21st, 10am-4pm