09/03/2021
Together, we did it!
‘Not as simple as it sounds’ officially ended on the 20th of February with a total count of 118’967 strikes.
This happened because of the contribution of all the visitors who came through the door and took part in the project expressing active solidarity with the cause. ..
It is to be celebrated that each individual who visited “not as simple as it sounds” made a conscious choice to engage with a performance that carried such gravity, when the Pride Festival offered so many notes of joy and triumph. This choice, to contemplate past trauma, has its place in a LGBTQI+ festival, as our community has been forged in response to some of the darker moments in recent history - and we are still over-represented in most measures of disadvantage or dispossession. ..
“Not as simple as it sounds” sought to strike this sombre note - which would have echoed into emptiness if it weren’t for the willingness of so many of the community to step away from their celebrations for a moment. For that the artist is sincerely grateful...
Special acknowledgements go to Sam Longmore and Jeff Henderson for their flexibility when it was time to work extra hours to accommodate the project, for the set up and the curatorial care they offered; to Auckland Pride Festival and their ‘Pride and Spark’ initiative, for welcoming this work into their programme and supporting it so wonderfully; to the Scott Lawrie gallery for keeping me under their wings and being understanding and present at all time; to the Italian Institute of Culture Sydney for being so sensitive and receptive to the contents of ‘Not as simple as it sounds’ and supporting the work internationally. The IIC does an incredible amount of work in order to support Italian culture abroad and help Italian artistry thrive even in such complicated times. Thank you to Vinayak Garg for being so patient and prompt while assisting with documentation and graphics. And lastly thank you to Kathryn Liggins for being so smooth in creating the rainbow uniforms...
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