Melbourne's Westscapes
By Peter Boyle
MELBOURNE — For most of the life of this city — spawned of the 1850s gold rush — its western suburbs have been considered too ugly to feature as a subject artists. These working- class suburbs were shaded by smoke-belching factories and the Maribyrnong River which winds its way through them was turned into a stinking sewer. Yet retired "rebel" Labor politician Joan Coxsedge — Labor has sold out in government, she says — has chosen the western suburbs as the theme of her latest exhibition of pen and pastel drawings.
Coxsedge has only just completed an exhibition of drawings of Cuba and now presents 32 drawings done in the six months she was in Cuba. She is exhibiting these before returning to Ciba to exhibit her work there. In "Westscapes" she has presents drawings of places she remembers as a child growing up in Kensington as well as sites of struggle during her term as a member of the Legislative Council for Western Melbourne. She has drawn the Hoechst Chemical factory which she last visited in 1991 to support a picketline set up by workers fighting for health and safety conditions; Jack's Magazine in the soon to be sold off Australian Defence Industries site in Footscray, the Sunshine Harvester plant which once was the biggest employer in the west.
One day Coxsedge even braved the notorious wind gusts on the Westgate Bridge to perch in a cage-like structure and capture panoramic views of the western suburbs. The Westgate bridge is a powerful presence in the area because of the workers who died building it, she says.
Coxsedge wants to help preserve a bit of Melbourne's working class heritage through this exhibition and believes that art should relate to real people's lives. But one shouldn't expect this to be a collection of drawings of factories for she has captured secret coves, little gardens and prised other hidden jewels from the western suburbs. And today, she adds, when standing by the Maribyrnong you don't have to turn your head away when the wind changes direction ... however on streets shuddering with the impact of road freight you choke in carbon monoxide fumes.
["Westcapes" by Joan Coxsedge is at the Footscray Community Arts Centre, Moreland St, Footscray from August 19 to September 2. For more info: (03) 689 5677.]