Missionary Position

for Kylie Mirmohamadi

On the subject of doing work in a community – specifically Western Sydney – there are two attitudes.

 There are the organisations that are led by individuals who live in the area, who care about the area, who organically work with the needs of the community.

 Then there’s another group who see it as a charitable project, as if throwing crumbs to the disenfranchised. The emphasis is on the dissemination of ideas and ‘empowerment’ and bringing these people the light.

 Ideologically, these approaches are as distant as east and west.

 The attitude can be isolated by determining the purpose of the artistic project and then asking who is running it and who is involved.

 Some people come into Western Sydney with the purpose of handing down something and in a sense it echoes the missionary project – for the sake of a population’s so-called betterment, the project is brought in, rolled out, and if only the locals knew it, they’d be grateful for the do-gooders patting themselves on the back.

 I think of this in the context of bringing culture to Western Sydney and specifically to Parramatta.

 With all due respect, culture is already here and it is a matter of helping what’s already here further thrive.