| Outsider Artist -Norma |
Maiia I walked through The Valley reading Faces in the Street and thought - Fuck not much has changed. Henry Lawson's collected works. First Things First - Editorial by Maiia Sept 09
The famous Australian Outsider and Street Artist Norma McCarthy says the Aussie spirit is not what it was. Australians are being far too conservative and complacent. That She is a reflection of the decay within Australian society.
Norma Mc Carthy from Sydney's Marrickville recalls cheerfully the young days of Germaine Greer. How exciting it was to throw off seeming shackles and chains of colonial and convict days. NEW Possibilities suddenly appeared on Australian women's horizons.
In urban and regional contexts and come what may. Through the decades and her travels, she has been relentless in getting her messages and her passion 'out there'.
The road of the Underdog she calls it - caution to the wind, going where angels fear to tread. She encourages the companions she meets along the way in the women's shelters, refuges, squats and sordid camps God knows where - to re-member - to explore colour and feeling.
She calls it is a rebirthing finding lost pieces of self by Letting go of grief and trauma. That self reCognition is worthy pursuit. Painting, drawing, paper-flower making, mixed media, graffiti, no rules, no judgement, just freedom to explore and express to the hearts content.
"Shattered wreck by tempests beat." Henry Lawson. Norma MCarthy's installation work is the LIVED EXPERIENCE. Buffeted by the winds. Showing us things we don't want to see - and certainly aren't the cause of!
Are there no prisons? No Social Security, no legal service? I support the aforementioned establishments and the poor must go there." - Ebeneezer Scrooge - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol -
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