MATT ELWIN

Born in Brisbane, Matt Elwin was raised in Townsville, bar a short stint when his military father was deployed to the regional New South Wales city of Wagga Wagga.

His interest in music was piqued at the age of eight, however, it wasn’t until 2006 when he completed a Bachelor of Music majoring in Performance through Townsville’s James Cook University that his mind, “was opened to every type of music; where I was strictly interested in classical works prior to studying, I’m now into all kinds of weird shit.”1

While still active with more conventional forms of music through his involvement in the band Three Mile Road, he has recently started to publicly explore his interest in more experimental soundscapes.

“Soundscapes are a bit of a new territory for me. Basically I’m a selfish composer – I write for myself, but the fact I haven’t released much of the more experimental stuff comes with the fact that I’m a perfectionist and never happy with the work. Working on Sinew2 was a good way to spur more activity in this area for me,”3 Elwin explained.

For A Permanent Mark: the impact of tattoo culture on contemporary art, Elwin further examines his interest in the adaptability of sound, the possibilities of interdisciplinary pieces, and the fallibility of the human brain.

Leaning on the visual works included in the exhibition, Elwin’s looping soundscape/musical score is an ambient work that replicates the aural experience of walking into a tattoo parlour, though many of the samples used aren’t actually of tattoo machinery.

The work is punctuated by sections of interviews with the artist’s tattooed acquaintances, each recounting their first tattoo experience. The intent of the work is to position the listener as somebody getting their own first tattoo, and to sonically translate some of the stresses and fears this experience can trigger.

“The work is essentially about the inner thoughts and feelings of someone with a phobia of needles; recalling friends talking about their tattoos before having their own first experience in the tattoo parlour,”4 Elwin explained.

Notes

1 Interview between the artist Matt Elwin and Curator Eric Nash, 29 October 2014

2 Elwin teamed with performance artist Tegan Ollett, photo-media artist Holly Grech, and digital projection artist Aaron Ashley to present Sinew, a multi-disciplinary performance piece performed at Townsville’s Umbrella Studio contemporary arts. In this work, Elwin contributed a 30 minute soundscape in response to Grech’s photomedia works, Ashley’s graphics, while also performing elements of the track live in concert with Ollett’s movements.

3 Interview between the artist Matt Elwin and Curator Eric Nash, 29 October 2014

4 Notes from the artist Matt Elwin, 5 May 2015

Image:

Qin Ga

China b.1971

Qin Ga

Qin Ga’s landmark performance art project, The miniature long march (2002-2005), calls on the power of tattoo as a permanent tool of remembrance, and one through which the artist can ‘explore the relationship between private feeling and public memory’.1

Born in 1971 in Inner Mongolia, Qin Ga originally trained as a sculptor2, and throughout the 1990s was a key figure in Beijing’s underground art scene.3 His developing interest in performance art was underpinned by an eagerness to utilise the human body, explaining, “…What I am interested in is the relationship between body and nature.”4 Early works such as Drug Bath, Freeze, and Disinfect present morbid scenes where the human body is in itself the artwork.

In her research paper, Indexing Death in Seven Xingwei and Zhuangzhi Pieces, Meiling Cheng describes Freeze;

“...an adolescent girl, propped up by two crutches on a floor overlaid with ice bricks. Qin puts a pair of sunglasses on the girl and sculpts on her naked body legions of sores, symptomatic of the inflammation often seen in patients suffering from the terminal phase of AIDS. Scattered inside the ice bricks are crimson red rose petals, frozen in sterility. As complementary visual tropes, both the female corpse and the rose petals reinforce the theme of premature

The miniature long march [detail] 2002 - 2005

Type C photograph on paper, 23 sheets: 75.5 x 55 cm (each)

Acc. 2007.009.001-023

Purchased 2007. The Queensland Government’s Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund

Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Image courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art suspension – her life cut short by an untimely death, like the rose petals fallen in their prime. Her young body, abject and grotesque, juxtaposed with the traditional symbol of love in the colour of blood, appears as a chilling imago for the Chinese homophonic translation of AIDS as ‘ai zi bing’, which may be transliterated back into English as ‘love’, ‘to grow or to multiply’, ‘disease’.”5

Through his use of tattoo as a mark-making tool in The miniature long march, Qin Ga is utilising the human body as both the artwork itself in a performative sense, and as a moving canvas for the artwork. This duality is emphasised by the still and moving footage documentation produced through the project.

His participation in the Long March Project’s Walking Visual Display began with the donation of his skin as a canvas in 2002.6 The project recreated the famous route of the Long March (1934-1935), a pivotal moment in Chinese history when the Red Army of the Communist Party of China retreated to skirt the advances of Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party). Qin Ga remained in his Beijing studio, communicating with the project’s participants and marking their progress on a miniature map of China tattooed across his back.

The project prematurely ended at Luding Bridge in Sichuan province, leaving Qin Ga’s tattoo of the Long March incomplete. In 2005, he resolved to complete the journey from Luding Bridge, a commitment that would see him endure extreme physical hardship due to the elements as he embarked upon what Rachel O’Reilly described as “an arduous journey through the snowy mountains, grassy plains and remote villages of west and northern China immortalised in Long March mythology.”7

Setting out with his tattooist and three cameramen, the artist completed the journey, having it etched into his skin on location. Through The miniature long march, Qin Ga engages with the, “interplay between empirical facts, allegories and acts of imagination,”8 although having seen first-hand the story’s profound and lasting effect on the locals he encountered throughout the trek, he also, “recognises the Long March as a story that taps into a more universal cultural motivation for betterment and change.”9

There could be no more appropriate medium for Qin Ga to have documented his journey with than tattoo; in doing so he demonstrates the connection between body and nature; the individual and our shared culture, customs and history; and, as with many great tattoos, forever commemorates a defining personal experience.

Notes

1 <http://www.qinga-studio.com/entext.aspx?id=13&t=n&page=0>

Accessed 22 October 2014

2 <http://www.qinga-studio.com/entext.aspx?id=13&t=n&page=0>

Accessed 22 October 2014

3 <http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/asiapacifictriennial5/artists/artists/ long_march_project/qin_ga> Accessed 22 October 2014

4 O’Reilly, R 2006, Qin Ga: A Story of Bodies Transformed, from the publication: Raffel, S & Seear, L 2006 The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery Publishing, Brisbane, Australia

5 Cheng, M 2006, Indexing Death in Seven Xingwei and Zhuangzhi Pieces, Performance Research 11(2), © Taylor & Francis Ltd 2006

6 O’Reilly, R 2006, Qin Ga: A Story of Bodies Transformed, from the publication: Raffel, S & Seear, L 2006 The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery Publishing, Brisbane, Australia

7 O’Reilly, R 2006, Qin Ga: A Story of Bodies Transformed, from the publication: Raffel, S & Seear, L 2006 The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery Publishing, Brisbane, Australia

8 O’Reilly, R 2006, Qin Ga: A Story of Bodies Transformed, from the publication: Raffel, S & Seear, L 2006 The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery Publishing, Brisbane, Australia

9 O’Reilly, R 2006, Qin Ga: A Story of Bodies Transformed, from the publication: Raffel, S & Seear, L 2006 The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery Publishing, Brisbane, Australia

A Permanent Mark the impact of tattoo culture on contemporary art

Images: Qin Ga

China b.1971

The miniature long march sites 1-23 [stills] 2002 - 2005

Betacam SP: 40:20 minutes, colour, stereo

Acc. 2007.010

Purchased 2007. The Queensland Government’s Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Image courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

China b.1971

The miniature long march [detail] 2002 - 2005

Type C photograph on paper, 23 sheets: 75.5 x 55 cm (each)

Acc. 2007.009.001-023

Purchased 2007. The Queensland Government’s Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund

Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Image courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Image: Qin Ga

China b.1971

The miniature long march [detail] 2002 - 2005

Type C photograph on paper, 23 sheets: 75.5 x 55 cm (each)

Acc. 2007.009.001-023

Purchased 2007. The Queensland Government’s Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund

Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Image courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

REGAN ‘HAHA’ TAMANUI

Australia’s ‘most prolific and notorious stencil artist’1, Regan Tamanui, aka HAHA, is a selftaught artist who has graduated from spraying stencils on the streets to having his work presented in leading art galleries throughout the country.

Tamanui’s work addresses mass media and popular culture, and he is renowned for highly detailed stencil portraits, often produced using in excess of 40 layers. Previous portraits have included depictions of Maori chiefs with prominent facial tattoos, which referenced lithographs and sketches from the late-1800s. Tamanui states that, being of Maori descent, the traditional facial tattoos were of interest as they allowed him, “to reflect on my culture, and help understand who I am by making art about my culture. The tattoos are symbolic and have meaning; they’re a way of communicating, without speaking.”

“The proper term for the traditional tattoos is Tā moko, and they pretty much explain who you are. So it’s kind of like another language, but through visual communication. For men it tells you the status in your culture or in your tribe, jobs, how many wives you’ve had, your star sign, and information about genealogy. For women, it pretty much says the same thing, but it’s a more basic form because men were considered to be more complicated and women more spiritual. For me it’s about rediscovering who I am through my art by creating images of Maori.”2

With the rise in popularity of tattooing in Western culture, there has been a considerable amount of cultural appropriation, with large numbers of people electing to be tattooed with iconography significant to a culture that they aren’t directly connected to by blood. While some find this unusual or even damaging to the cultural significance of the tradition, Tamanui is more receptive to this practice.

“My personal belief is that anyone can have a Maori tattoo, it’s just a way of communicating. It’s like a family tree and your lineage, it’s just information and data about who you are, where you come from, and what you believe; I think it should be able to transcend other cultures as well.”3

He points to his own tattoos to support this opinion, including one of his iconic stencils of Ned Kelly, explaining, “I’ve got a few tattoos, but none of them are linked to my culture. I’ve got a lot of street art, and tattoos that relate to sacred geometry. All the tattoos I’ve got represent a journey, so images I like with a story behind it. The Ned Kelly story is one I identify with; the concept of bushrangers, particularly being a street artist, and the whole idea of street art is doing stuff illegally that people like. I believe that street art is like the 21st century bushranger when done illegally.”4

For A Permanent Mark: the impact of tattoo culture on contemporary art, Tamanui is intent on continuing his exploration of archetypal and cultural dualities, explaining that, “because I’m Maori and also Samoan, I’m interested in bringing those cultures together and the traditional tattoos and markings from those two cultures. I’ve also got German in me, and I’ve discovered that the coat of arms is a form of tattoo, but not on the skin. It’s more like an emblem. The series is a mixture of ideas that I’m playing with, investigating myself and my ancestors.”5

Notes

1 <http://www.regantamanui.com> Accessed 13 October 2014

2 Quote from an interview with the artist conducted by Curator Eric Nash, 10 August 2014

3 Quote from an interview with the artist conducted by Curator Eric Nash, 10 August 2014

4 Quote from an interview with the artist conducted by Curator Eric Nash, 10 August 2014

5 Quote from an interview with the artist conducted by Curator Eric Nash, 10 August 2014

Images - Opposite (clockwise from top left):

Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui

Untitled - Tā moko man #1 2014 Aerosol on 300gsm printmaking paper

68.8 x 58.6 cm

Courtesy of the Artist, Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui Photograph: Shane Fitzgerald

Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui

Untitled - Tā moko woman #4 2014 Aerosol on 300gsm printmaking paper

70.7 x 59.3 cm

Courtesy of the Artist, Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui Photograph: Shane Fitzgerald

Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui

Untitled - Tā moko woman #1 2014 Aerosol on 300gsm printmaking paper

54.7 x 59 cm

Courtesy of the Artist, Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui Photograph: Shane Fitzgerald

Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui

Untitled - Tā moko woman #2 2014 Aerosol on 300gsm printmaking paper

70 x 58.5 cm

Courtesy of the Artist, Regan ‘HAHA’ Tamanui Photograph: Shane Fitzgerald