Artist Statement – Kim Munro
I began The Art of Work is a Work of Art in 2022 after some conversations with Vitalstatistix co-founder, Ollie Black, who I had met through a mutual friend shortly after moving to Adelaide. Ollie Black, Margie Fischer and Roxxy Bent had been putting together their archives to be held at Vitals. And in doing so, they had commented that someone should be recording them as they recalled the memories, stories and the importance of all their collaborators at the time. When Ollie told me about this, I was immediately intrigued by the stories and images, especially the tours of the mines and community centres in small towns around the state and country. I was particularly interested in the conversations and socially-engaged research that was central to their creative process. At the same time, the 40th anniversary of Vitals (2024) was approaching.
In creating the final iteration of The Art of Work is a Work of Art, I wanted to create an immersive environment for the audience to reflect on the themes of labour, networks, collective action, archives and memory – not only through the stories they hear, but also in their own lives. This is created through audio, artist-book, venue design and performance.
The project is centred around an audio track which is designed to be listened to on headphones. The audio is composed of the interviews and conversations first recorded with Ollie, Margie and Roxxy in 2022 as well as sounds and voices that reflect on the themes and the importance of the Waterside Workers Hall and the location on Port River, Yartapuulti. The river is present, both in the audio you hear as well as the structure.
Throughout the audio, the Born on Monday community choir can be heard practicing. The choir, led by Ella Pak Poy with the help of her dad, Anthony Pak Poy, meets every Monday at the Waterside Workers Hall and is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025. The song they are singing is composed and arranged by Zoë Barry with lyrics drawn from the pages and pages of audience feedback that was collected after community, workplace and school performances of productions in the late 1980s.
Accompanying the audio is a book that contains archival images as well those from more recent productions. We wanted to deprioritise what could be considered an ‘official archive’ through selecting images, documents and ephemera that are intimate and mysterious – rather than traditional production images. The images of the Port River throughout provide moments of reflection on the passage of time through the river, both constant and ever changing. The red pages with text signify the pots of geraniums outside the hall, symbols of camaraderie. The book is also available for purchase with a QR code where you can listen to the audio track with the book. This is to make the work accessible to a broader audience than might be able to come to the shows.
The Art of Work is a Work of Art reflects a network of conversations and collaborations and could only ever be a partial and fragmentary history. The intention is to not only tell some of these womens’ stories, but also to reaffirm the need for solidarity and collective action.
A note from Vitalstatistix’s Artistic Director – Jennifer Greer Holmes
As the eighth Artistic Director of Vitalstatistix, I am familiar with the complexities of working with the archive. The physical boxes and their location; the contents— both what is there and what is missing, the maintenance and organisation, the real estate they consume, their importance, and their vitality. The archive boxes hold grant-related paperwork, box office files, show reports, photographs and ephemera — and as I pass them everyday prior to letting myself into the office upstairs, increasingly they hold a weight of responsibility.
Steering the Vitals ship is an incredible honour and privilege. We don’t only program and plan future performances and projects—we are also the custodians of the past. And the past includes old shows, the building, the stories (embellished, imagined, remembered correctly or otherwise), the people, the places, the audiences, and most of all, the impact.
Vitals is a company that has impacted so many people, especially women. For me, it has shaped my career—being an organisation that has been central to my world since 2008, when I first walked through the doors at Waterside and started dreaming of possibilities. Now, eight months into my role as Artistic Director / CEO, I am delighted to include this significant work in my first program. It situates the audience inside the work—with intimacy, care, laughter and hope, while providing a soft place to land (quite literally) when the memories are sad,bittersweet, or even traumatic.
The work is incredibly reflective of Vitals itself: a haven for those of us who carry so much hope, tempered by the knowledge that it’s a fucking hard slog to make change— and that we may not in our lifetimes. Decades of good work undertaken with the belief that we can make a difference. I listened, with tears stinging my eyes, as the founders discussed their ambition and belief that their touring show would end workplace sexual harassment. I wish I understood what it must have been like to hold hope like that, and I find myself imagining what an energising force it must have been.
Kim and her team’s dedication and rigour in exposing the archive resulted in them working with it in a genuinely innovative way—something that I hope other archivists are inspired by. It is confronting yet gentle, recorded yet live, performed yet authentic, a soundtrack to a book yet a performance. Like Vitals, it offers so much to enjoy on the surface level of simply sitting and receiving, while exposing you to the depths of interwoven stories, relationships, artworks, and conversations—all laden with emotion, ambition and activism. The Art of Work is a Work of Art has breathed life into dusty cardboard boxes and highlighted the importance of memory, art, women’s work, belief, collectivism, and this place.
I am filled with gratitude that our founders—Margie, Ollie and Roxxy are being honoured in this way, and that the work of each subsequent artistic leader (Catherine, Maude, Jane and Emma) has been embedded in the accompanying book. Vitals is an organisation that has changed people’s lives by connecting them, paying them and nourishing them.
We are glad you came to sit and listen with us.
| Interviews Ollie Black Margie Fischer Roxxy Bent Ali Gumillya Baker Maude Davey Emma Valente Additional voices Welcome to Country Additional sound Born on Monday choir Highs |
Mediums Catherine McMahon Cindy Barnes Bronwen McClelland Margaret Horgan Jacqueline Kinloch Meredith Harrison Liz Donnellan Pam Good Pat Mead Judy Willsmore Emma Willoughby Helen Mares Glenda Glazbrook Melanie Carter Helen Calabretto Martha Shepherd Kathryn Santospirito Lindy Nielson Gemma Acland Lows |