open practice #3

Join us for open practice with Patch-Work.

We invite you to participate in open practice; a group practice series using Indigo grown as part of Patch-Work.

~~ about Patch-Work ~~

Patch-Work is a collaborative project on Wurundjeri land that engages with the community garden as a place for collective practice. 

~~ about open practice ~~

Open practice is a series of three gatherings where we invite artists and gardeners to meet, think and practice together. This series is developed in relation to Japanese Indigo, which is a dye plant that we are growing at Joe’s Market Garden, and is facilitated by Merri Cheyne, Stephanie Hicks, Peta Madgwick and Emily Simek.

Open practice will begin with conversations, where we consider ways of working in connection to place, and invite sharing of experiences from your practice. As part of today's discussion, we will respond to a reading by Aboubakar Fofana titled 'Beyond the Blueness'. In this text Fofana considers the material, spiritual and political foundations of his Indigo practice, reflecting on the global histories of the Indigo plant, the lineage of cultural practice by First Peoples, and colonial violent histories of plantation cropping by enslaved peoples. Here we invite a discussion around the complexities of Indigo practice, situating this conversation in the context of meeting here, on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri people.

We then invite practitioners to gather Indigo from the garden to together prepare a fresh-leaf dye, this time using a stencil method to print onto fabric. We will also each dip a small piece of fabric into an Indigo vat; a process that will be repeated at each meeting. The Indigo blue colour deepens with multiple dips into the vat, and is thought to reflect a process in layering knowledge through shared conversations over the course of the open practice series.

Details:

• Saturday 2nd March, 9am – 11am
• Meet at Joe’s Market Garden, 34 Edna Grove, Coburg.
  • $10 ticket for participation
    • 50% proceeds to Pay the Rent https://paytherent.net.au/
    • 50% proceeds for communal garden materials for Patch-Work
    • First Nations, unwaged: free
• Coffee and fresh produce are available to buy at Joe’s farm gate

Access:

• Joe’s Market Garden is located along the Merri Creek Trail. Access to the trail is via Harding Street where car parking is available, or via bike or tram.
• There is limited wheelchair access within the growing area itself, as it is a market garden with rows of beds surrounded by uneven ground.
• Unfortunately there is no accessible toilet onsite, there is a composting toilet with four steps. 
• All ages and abilities welcome, children must be accompanied by a parent.
• Unfortunately we do not have funding for Auslan interpreting.

Joe’s Market Garden is located on the sovereign Land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people, and we wish to pay respect to their ancestors, and Elders past, present and emerging.