ripairian
RIPAIRIAN began as a residency project, carried out in August-September 2024 at the Midland Junction Arts Centre, and has now grown into an exhibition and multi-disciplinary project that will come to fruition later this year, in 2025.
During a 9-week residency at Midland Junction Arts Centre, Vahri McKenzie and I developed a series of new performance art experiments and fibre-woven artworks in conversation with a site near Mandoon Bilya/Helena River. Inspired by walks near the waterway and supported by historical and cultural research, we drew on the participatory nature of graffiti culture to generate new images for river repair. ‘Ripairian’ plays on ‘riparian’, relating to riverbanks and adjacent wetlands, and our efforts to repair this hard-used place that is worthy of artistic attention. 
ABOVE: the verandah studio at Midland Junction Arts Centre, during our residency in June - September, 2024.
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BELOW: Vahri McKenzie and Gemma Ben-Ary, 2024, Iso Dawn. Photograph by Christophe Canato.
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