Larissa Hjorth and Kate Shaw asked me to produce a work for a group show they were putting together at the relatively new estate of Caroline Springs in Melbourne's Outer Western Suburbs. The brief was to respond to the site and the suburban experience as a whole. I chose to re-imagine Ron Robertson-Swann's 'Vault' as a portable shelter for the homeless. The work was constructed from yellow hoarding which protected the National Gallery of Victoria's refurbishment of their St.Kilda Road site. Accompanying this were blankets from an abandoned homeless site under Victoria Park Station & a removalists blanket used for the transportation of sculptures.
'Bananaz' (2003) referenced the changing locations of 'Vault', which had recently found it's true home outside the newly constructed ACCA in Southbank. while also tipping it's hat to other works which had been crudely relocated without any real consideration for their history or site specificity. I sought to create a truly portable work that also functioned as a public tool, much in the same way 'Vault' had been used at various times as a skateboard ramp, car park and homeless shelter.
On the day the show opened, 'Bananaz' was removed by Caroline Springs' Maintenance Team (confusing it for an actual homeless shelter) and duly "lost". This added another element to the referenced histories - an homáge which was to meet a similiar fate to it's predecessor. Incredibly frustrating not having the work present at the opening. A few days later, Management of Caroline Springs found 'Bananaz' stored at a materials site where it was salvaged and re-instated.
In 2006, towards the end of my time at a studio run by Kings Artists Run Initiative, the collective decided to have a working bee. In my absence, the collection of yellow timber which made up the work was deemed rubbish and disposed of.
R.I.P. Bananaz
