A World of One's Own with Tai Snaith

As part of the exhibition of A World Of One’s Own at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in May 2021, this talk was held as a live event with an audience in the gallery. Host of the podcast Tai Snaith (seated left) and Art Historian and writer Janine Burke (right) discuss the project and why it is important that public collections continue to focus on collecting work by female-identifying artists.

Audio production and editing by Martin Kay.

Programmed and invited by MPRG curator and director Danny Lacy (left with microphone).

Artwork featured in photo by Sally Smart.

As artists, how we can learn to use our megaphones to create a world we can bear to live in? Can a knife have a mind of its own? Can desire be an animating force?

In this conversation Tai Snaith converses with Deborah Kelly about her animated paper work ‘LYING WOMEN’ from the MPRG collection and the process of making it. They talk of freeing the female figures from white man’s HIStory and letting them rub up against each other in HERstory. They go on to explore a series of juicy topics from starting her own religion to using art-making as an attempt to save her own life.

How can the way in which something is painted affect the way we read it? How is the self-discipline involved in painting similar to the self-discipline of an athlete? How can we forget the cost of our materials in order to paint freely?

In this episode Tai Snaith converses with Fiona McMonagle about her watercolour painting ‘Wonky’ from the MPRG collection. This work is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Fiona’s fascination with complicated female subjects and making up her own rules. Here, she reveals her understanding of the medium of watercolour and her willingness to fail as part of the process.

What does it mean to push past perfectionism? How can feeling powerless create more power for us in the end? How do we strike a balance between depicting the absurdity of life and the serious nature of compulsion?

In this episode Tai Snaith and Lily Mae Martin start by deciphering her work on paper from the MPRG collection called ‘Wrestling.’ They go on to unpack a series of ideas around how we see the female body, comfort zones, censorship and control.

Together they navigate the very personal terrain of pushing through self-loathing and how making art relates to motherhood, career, health and life.

How can the overload of images in daily life be seen as a positive thing? How can we keep ideas alive over decades of practice? How do you KEEP EVERYTHING and not become a hoarder?

In this conversation Tai Snaith and Elizabeth Gower discuss an early work of hers on paper called ‘Precious Life’ from the MPRG collection. They explore the practice of collecting and sorting both actual materials and symbols and how it has adapted and changed over her life. Elizabeth shares how she learnt to ‘accept the chaos.’

As artists, how can we fill in the gaps of knowledge about our cultural histories? How can nature and country act as a connector? How can collaboration help strengthen our practice?

Tai Snaith kicks off this new mini-series by speaking with Gundijmara/ Italian/ Torres Strait islander artist LISA WAUP about her powerfully personal, shield-like work on paper from the MPRG collection called ‘Admit to Care.’

Together they discuss Lisa’s process of collecting history and stitching it together in order to ‘protect the layers.’

How does being a teacher affect your art practice? How can an artist successfully engage with an institution’s collection? How do we create our own opportunities and categories? What does it mean to trust your gut?

For this final episode of the second series, Tai and Meredith discuss a broad range of topics around what it means to have a multifaceted, self-driven and supported practice. They share their love and importance of championing OTHER artists - what it means to not be a curator but to keep curatorial skills as part of your practice. Once again the notions of collapsing the boundaries between traditional notions of craft, ornament and art are highlighted and celebrated. Meredith praises the approachability of jewellery and the way it acts as a continuation of dialogue around ideas of genre, discipline and material values.

Together they question what ‘achieving’ and ‘professionalism’ really mean. Finally, the importance of looking back, taking stock of our practices; recognising what we have overcome and achieved and really asking which direction we want to take next.

Links, more episodes, and information about A World of One’s Own, at taisnaith.com/podcast

Audio production: Bec Fary

Theme music: ‘End of the Day’ by Phia www.listentophia.com

What roles can social politics and social media play in driving an art practice? What role do beauty and aesthetic boundaries play in art today? How can these things interrelate?

Tai and Rowan delve down the rabbit hole of creating fictions around ideas and images of self and others, creating characters and narratives to open up ideas of social inclusiveness and empathy. Rowan outlines how we should keep making these fictions despite the despair around us. How does marketing affect our image of ourselves? What roles or characters do we play in social media? And what role do we play in the art world? Is it all a play? Rowan refreshingly discusses how she can foresee parts of her practice ‘shedding’ and talks frankly about choosing the path with the most flexibility of being open with herself. We also discuss Casting as a medium, playing the ‘art system game’ and her plans of moving into ‘Aquarian frequencies and taking down the government’.

Links, more episodes, and information about A World of One’s Own, at taisnaith.com/podcast

Audio production: Bec Fary

Theme music: ‘End of the Day’ by Phia www.listentophia.com

How important is it to connect with a place that is part of your history? What are your responsibilities to make work for ‘your people’ as well as an art audience?

Tai and Megan discuss what it means to move back to work ‘on country’ as a contemporary Indigenous artist. They unpack the complexities of relating to a place and its people, and how that might inform your work in a number of different ways. Megan talks about her involvement with proppaNOW and various travels from the bush to the city, overseas and now back to her father’s country on Quandamooka land. She sheds light on her passion for Middens and how they function in Indigenous culture, and their history as one of the earliest forms of architecture in the landscape.

Links, more episodes, and information about A World of One’s Own, at taisnaith.com/podcast

Audio production: Bec Fary

Theme music: ‘End of the Day’ by Phia www.listentophia.com

What does it mean to make artwork with a social consciousness?How do we represent our politics through what we wear?

Tai and Kate discuss the way that clothes, like skin, can carry a multitude of meanings, stories and histories to make up who we are. Kate talks about using other artists' clothes as the palette or starting point for constructing her current portraits. Our conversation outlines Kate’s very real motives for making change within the art institution to make it a more diverse and balanced community and the capacity that each of us have to work together to achieve change.

Links, more episodes, and information about A World of One’s Own, at taisnaith.com/podcast

Audio production: Bec Fary

Theme music: ‘End of the Day’ by Phia www.listentophia.com