The development of the Fluro drawing workshop comes from collaborative sessions at the Remapping Mitchell Arts Collective’s camping residencies. A First Nations led immersive and collaborative arts project developed by Gunggari, Maranoa and visiting artists on Country encompasses camps, work-shops, group meetings, large scale projection events and exhibitions. The group seeks to foreground a series of arts related works, stories, and perspectives currently absent or at least less visible in contem-porary historical accounts of the region. The Maranoa is a region of cultural, spiritual and environmental significance linked to Booringa (‘place of fire’ in Gunggari language). The creative project grows on the theme of the Maranoa and the collective stories of living and being on this unique country.
The Fluro Drawing concept began as a way for artists and creatives to work collaboratively in a partici-patory session. In 2023 the group visited a waterhole on the Maranoa River and each participant chose a site or various textures from objects or the rock surfaces. Through techniques such as frottage, which allows the transfer of drawing media onto paper, surface terrains and forms of the watershed were cap-tured, exposing histories and site-specific marks. Frottage reveals a surface that can be interpreted physi-cally, historically and culturally.
The collaborative drawings were then collated and digitised. Titled Spirit of the Maranoa, the work was exhibited on the large-scale Sphere on the occasion of the More-Than-Human Maker Symposium for the 2023 Sustainability Week at Queensland University of Technology. The Fluro Drawing workshop was conducted as a follow-up experience after a presentation by the Remapping Mitchell Arts Collective. The workshop allows participants to engage in a mark making drawing session using fluorescent dry mediums such as pencils and crayons on selections of lightweight papers.
Using ultraviolet light in a darkened environment brings fluorescent drawings to life. To facilitate this visual transformation the workshop provides a pop-up “Fluro Booth”. The booth is constructed from black light proof fabric and contains ultraviolet light sources. Workshop participants will be able to place their works into the pop-up gallery space to witness the resulting transformative effects.
The facilitators will demonstrate drawing methods incorporating aleatory forms, which link to ideas of the unknown, or unlooked for meanings. Mark making techniques such as frottage, using rubbings of objects, or other mark making techniques will also be demonstrated. Various found objects and materials will be supplied for use as drawing tools or for their textured surfaces and shapes. These drawing tools mostly originate from disused farm and station home detritus, as well as natural materials from the Maranoa region.
A supplementary workshop activity works with dry phosphorescent paint on a body size drawing sheet installed in the darkened booth. Participants are shown the possibilities of drawing with light from their mobile phones or torches. The phosphorescent surface absorbs and retains light, enabling a growing complexity of layering to accumulate. This activity will be further developed and has the potential for future large scale participatory arts installations.
PRESENTERS:
Remapping Mitchell Arts Collective
Jude Taggart Roberts
Helen Hardess
Anastasia Tyurina, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
