APHIDS site responsive residency at QVWC

What’s changed with APHIDS since its beginnings in 1994 , and what’s kept it going across this time?

Lara: APHIDS has always been an experimental collaborative organisation. It was started by five artists and they came from different kinds of art forms, including music, fashion, theatre, film. And so that ethos has really stuck, that we're focused on experimenting, we're not defined by a singular art form.

Eugenia: I'd also say it's become more overtly feminist as well, although that was something that was also probably there from the beginning.  Because APHIDS has always been responsive to its times, so much of what has changed for us has done so because society has completely shifted. 

Lara: I'd say the landscape for interest in the kind of work that we make has also changed, whereas it might've been considered really experimental at some point. But now, a lot of festivals or a lot of galleries are interested in performance, or they're interested in work that is participatory, or in collaboration with others that aren't artists. There’s been a real understanding around our work that has opened up.

APHIDS team

What stays the same across the 26 years for APHIDS? 

Lara: The responsive nature of the organisation has stayed the same. We’re not stuck in a single venue, or a single state, or a single art form. And it's always been a national and even international organisation, often responding to all sorts of different places. And we’ve also always been artist-led, which is actually really rare.

How have you found the space at the QVWC, and what are your plans for it?

Eugenia: We're really excited because APHIDS does work so site responsively, so to have access to a space that is feminist at its core and has so many really interesting organisations as tenants. We’re keen to bring some of our community into that space and have them become more comfortable and familiar with somewhere that’s so central to the city. It feels like the beginning of an ongoing relationship, which is great.

Lara: We’ll be bringing Feminist Futures to QVWC. Feminist Futures is a programme of workshops, developments and events based on the intersection of care, work, class, and feminism. And each of us as co-directors will be leading a week or two in the space to investigate these ideas with other artists, non-artists, people that are in other fields, including people from the film world and the on-demand or gig economy to delve into these deeper questions and gather a lot of new understandings for our future projects.

When we talk about oppression, we tend to look at it from gender, sexuality, disability, race, but class is something that can get missed. What made you choose to consider class, and how that plays out for us in 2021?

Eugenia: Because APHIDS is led by three artists and we have, I think very much a venn diagram of overlapping themes that we're interested in, but looking at them from slightly different perspectives. The focus on class feeds into a couple of projects – one of them being EASY RIDERS, and another being Class Act.

In our development for Class Act, Mish – our third co-director – is so concerned with the lack of visibility of class within the art world. As Mish also comes from a working class background, she's really hyper aware of how much of a barrier and a schism there still is, and how middle-class the art world is.

COVID has shown us how central class is in our very unfair, uneven world.  APHIDS has the ability to not only generate these works as an ensemble, but also to work with the community, and with people who have lived experiences of these issues.

Lara: It's interesting because a lot of us are in this creative class, which has people from educated backgrounds and with ‘sophisticated taste’ – but the working conditions of artists in Australia are very lowly paid. A lot of artists live on or just above the poverty line, but maintain a middle class aesthetic. And we try to make sure there’s some sustainability in collaborating with people, and good working conditions in how we operate.

Eugenia: And in these collaborations, we’re also trying to ensure that we can actually put our money where our mouth is and pay decent conditions and above award to our collaborators.. Because some of them are working elsewhere for as low as like $6 an hour through the gig economy. And we don't want to replicate the exploitation that they already experienced.

How does this also tie into your practice, as artists?

Eugenia: It's really, really challenging because the art world wants to seem progressive and talks about equity and fair pay, but it’s non-standardised, and there's no accountability.

Lara: We’re also speaking back to those institutions, organisations, and companies that are asking for free labour, and some of them don't even think about it. And we try to make that conversation clearer, and say “actually I can afford to work for this”. Solidarity is really important, and as independent artists we are so atomized, we're so fractured and being able to share those kinds of struggles together really makes a huge difference. And now, being able to have the confidence as mid-career artists, we can talk back to people that are asking us to work for less.

And now, for something different – a small interview with a small person. We also got the chance to speak to Ida, Eugenia’s daughter and a mini-APHID in her own right.

What sort of art do you do, Ida?

Ida: I sometimes do drawings and stuff. Well, I paint sometimes, and I’ve painted on two canvases before.

And what’s your favourite colours to paint with?

Ida: Probably greeny-blue and purple.

What do you think about your mum’s work, and the work APHIDS do?

Ida:  Mum's work has a lot of yellow in it, and herself! 

Do you know what you want to do when you grow up?

Ida: A teacher and cafe-owner. You'll probably be coming to my café. I'll have jam donuts, and dogs can come and chill out there.

Interview Jessamy Gleeson