Geelong will have a special opportunity to learn more about two artistic exhibitions exploring the effect of the Ford closures on the region.
Platform Arts will host a panel discussion with Assembled Lines artist Robbie Rowlands and Fordtown creator Kaitlyn Church in the gallery’s Performance Space on November 9.
“I’m really fascinated about Robbie’s approach to the topic of Ford. It’s also just exciting to have someone else making work about such an important issue,” Ms Church said.
“It’s interesting when we get together. As I like to say, Catlin’s in the trenches and I’m visiting the trenches as she has a fantastic grasp of the history and community around Ford,” Mr Rowlands said.
Mr Rowlands said Assembled Lines challenged the functionality and purpose of abandoned Ford factory artefacts.
“There is something about opening up that transition of an object to something else and not necessarily suggesting what it’s going to be,” he said.
“If you placed these objects in a room, it’d be one thing, but it’s looking through the art lens at the adjustments and gestures to take it into another dimension.
“I’ve worked with lots of different types of objects to see what transformations could happen, while using a lot of incredibly graceful contortions of buildings and objects.”
Ms Church said Fordtown was a documentary project that explored the impact of Ford’s demise in the Geelong community through stories of former workers.
“The exhibition at Platform Arts is a combination of photography and archival film of old clips from the national Film and Sound Archive collection mashed together with text,” she said.
“I grew up in the Geelong region, particularly when many companies faced closures… So, I wanted to make a project that looks back at what happened to Geelong.
“The project is different to anything I’ve done before, mostly because it was made during lockdowns. I was living in Melbourne at the time, so I had to think outside the box on how to make it work.”
Attendance to ‘In Conversation: Kaitlyn Church and Robbie Rowlands’ is free, with the event running from 2pm to 3.30pm. Visit events.humanitix.com/in-conversation-nov24 for tickets.
