Our window has been taken over by MINE's very own shopgirl,
Brydie Dyson.Her Exhibiton,
The Story Which Must Be TOLD was installed yesterday, Thursday, the 16th of April and runs until Wednesday the 20th of May. Her work is a collection of handmade finger and hand puppets, along with zines and a detailed stage.
Her works are all for sale, the handmade finger puppets at $20 each and the zines at $10.
There will be an opportunity to see her work in action, as Hills actor, Penelope Arvanitakis turns these puppets to life in a one-off performance. There will be popcorn served in origami folded paper cups, and all the works will be for sale. Stay tuned for the date and time.
Below is Brydie's artist statement:
THE STORY WHICH MUST BE TOLD
Puppetry is a powerful tool in the act of story telling. "The Story Which Must Be Told" presents a nurturing and light-hearted perspective of a regularly forgotten form of storytelling and imaginative play.
Brydie Dyson presents a range of finger and hand puppets, made from papers and fibres, coupled with illustration and painted imagery, a stage and an accompanying story-zine.
“Paper and fibres have always been mediums I’ve found significantly accessible. I remember as a little girl, creating scenes from cardboard, and forming soft-toys, make-shift together through illustration, cutout paper shapes, cotton wool and staples. I become a child again when I create worlds through these sorts of materials. It’s easy and its rewards are immediate.”
We are seeing an enormous revival of DIY culture and handmade processes in these times of disposable and industrialised consumerism. It suddenly means more to possess something handmade. It had become, up until recently, a rarity to endorse handmade production. Our now highly conscious sustainable and environmental pull on lifestyle, coupled with the global economic crisis has seen people return to making things themselves.
Zines and homemade publications have worked their way into this DIY culture. The Sticky Institute, an underground store in the Flinders Street subway is dedicated entirely to the support of local zine-makers and to the selling of handmade publications. The immediacy of self-production, of getting one’s point of view expressed within a public arena without having to be represented by a publisher, and the availability of DIY book-making, is another emerging and successful method of storytelling.
Dyson hopes her work will encourage acts of playmaking and storytelling between children and adults. “I think the kids will have no problem making up their own stories, but to help out the adults, I’ve made a zine which accompanies the puppets.”
Dyson is represented by Mine, Craft Victoria, Heaton & May, and Pippa May Cook.
