Fatima Killeen Fallujah’s wedding night 2007 – detail Wedding dress, fabric, ink and synthetic roses 100cm x 210cm
Fatima Killeen Resilience 2005 Colour collograph 47cm x 62cm
Before 1948 there were 475 Arab villages within the borders of what was to become the state of Israel – 385 of those villages have been destroyed by the Israeli authorities. No records were kept, however the cactus plants (Sabr) often reappeared in odd places as a reminder of the former Arab villages. In this work the cactus becomes a symbol of the resilience of Arab Iraq against the invasion of the international coalition…the message to establish peace and democracy came in missiles.
Australian War Memorial collection.
Baby Jenin 2003 Acrylic, sand, shoe, board on wood 50cm x 70cm
….Could this shoe belong to a terrorist from Jenin?
How much blood for oil? 2007 Colour Collograph 29cm x 42cm
Legal, illegal, seeking peace 2003 Acrylic, sand, stencils, leaves on wood 50cm x 70cm
….A search for a place to live and hope in peace.
The ability of artists to survive in Australia has been the subject of the Throsby Report and a census study commissioned by the Australia Council. Writing on the ArtsHub website, Paul Isbel has penned an article called “The lowdown on living as an artist in Australia” which outlines the facts and numbers about artists working throughout the country. It is quite rare for such a large research project on working artists to be undertaken – here is a quote from the article:
Here are some numbers to wrap your head around. There are 44,000 artists working in Australia today. In a population of 22.6 million, that means one person in every 513 is a working artist. If there are 1,000 kids at your school, two will end up making a living with their art. Look around. Can you spot them? Look for a girl and a boy, because they split nearly equally male and female, 56% to 44%. Look for a musician. A quarter of all working artists are musicians. Look for those who were born in Australia. Three out of every four artists working in Australia were born in Australia.
Even more entertaining and ‘to the point’ is an animated PowerPoint video produced by the Australia Council to quickly sum-up all the research – Enjoy the music and the show, it should be on TED!
I have just returned from the fantastic LOOK! and Mirror exhibitions at the Canberra Museum and Gallery. The exhibitions showing the original “art of Australian picture books” are displayed in two separate spaces; one is the collaged illustrations of Jeannie Baker from her Moroccan/Australian themed book Mirror and in the other section LOOK has the work of forty other Australian children’s book illustrators including Bob Graham, Ann James, Shaun Tan, Graeme Base, Leigh Hobbs and Terry Denton. The LOOK exhibition opened at the State Library of Victoria and the Canberra show is the second stop on a tour of regional Australia.
The collaged artworks of Jeannie Baker were created for her children’s picture book titled “Mirror.” The book shows the day-to-day similarities between families in Morocco and Australia. The book has no text and the illustrations are collaged with all manner of materials to produce beautiful original artworks for the pages of the book. The two covers of the book fold out so both sides can be read together – a Moroccan side and an Australian side. While both the Mirror and LOOK exhibitions are displayed side-by-side in Canberra they are in fact travelling on separate tours.
CLICK HERE for the Mirror dates and more information. Check out this video of the book Mirror on the ABC news website.
Last weekend (Saturday 12 May) was the annual Caftan fashion show at the Palais des Congress in Marrakesh. The twelve designers included Cain Allah El Batoul, Dar Oum Al Ghait and Siham El Habti. The theme for 2012 was the Treasures of Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan explorer who in the 14th Century travelled throughout the Islamic world for thirty years. In addition, young designers have been given the opportunity to showcase up to eight caftans they have designed for the fashion show.
Take some time off and read the official Caftan blog with clips and images from earlier years and enjoy this video of the 2012 collections.
Translate this blog by pasting the URL address HERE
The No Added Sugar exhibition opening at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre on Saturday 12 May 2012 is the culmination of twelve months of community engagement and hard work by the artists and project coordinators. The group of artists from different cultural backgrounds have worked with the Australian Muslim Women’s Arts Project (AMWAP) initiatives in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
The project is a national arts engagement project, funded by the Human Rights Commission and the Australia Council for the Arts. The AMWAP link above includes the names of all the artists and staff involved in the project.
Here are some links to articles and interviews in the newspapers and on ABC National:
Muslim women showcase their talents – ABC Radio National, 8 May 2011 Crossroads of East and West – Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 2012 Muslim Women Artists – Photo Portfolio – Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 2012 Engaging with Home – Emily Parkinson, Australian Financial Review, 5-6 May 2012 Its state of the art for Muslim women – Melissa Matheson, The Telegraph, 6 May 2012 Fast Five with …. Rusaila Bazlamat – Artfiles – In Focus, 1 May 2012 Canberra artist in Casula exhibition….. – Helen Musa, Canberra City News, 9 May 2012 Mapping the riches of Muslim artistry – Ian Cuthbertson, The Australian, 24 Nov 2011 Muslim women share artworks and writing – Farah Abdurahman, SW Advertiser, 11 April
Over the last twelve months I have been part of the Australian Muslim Women’s Project organised by the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. The No Added Sugar exhibition has come about from community engagement workshops and can be visited from 12 May to 18 July 2012.
I will be travelling up to Sydney this weekend for the opening and short talks by artists from Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. Images of my artworks are on display at the No Added Sugar exhibition can be viewed on the website at www.fatimakilleen.com
It would be great if you could take time out to visit the exhibition over the coming weeks.
www.fatimakilleen.com
View the work of Fatima and other Muslim artists in SMH
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Fatima's work was on permanent display in the Australian Journeys exhibition which has now closed for renovation
Buy a marker for your home or garden - hand-carved & painted to your favourite location by Fatima
Muslim Women's style in Australia at the SYDNEY POWERHOUSE MUSEUM
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A Moroccan artist living in Australia 