Albion guitarist Robert Jackson and his band, The Legless Lizards, pay homage to Sunshine in their latest project. He spoke to Esther Lauaki about their installation, Dwelling People.
What is your connection to Brimbank?
I’ve lived in Brimbank since 2000, though my family did live here briefly in the early 1960s on emigrating from England. The other Legless Lizards band members, Simon Bereux and Jagdeep Shergill, are both long-time Sunshine residents. We tend to be very involved in our community, with a focus on giving the local ecology a helping hand.
How did you come to be involved with the Legless Lizards?
Jagdeep and I started playing together around 12 years ago, and about 10 years ago I did a Brimbank council artist-in-residence project with the aim of making music and doing paintings inspired by the local landscape with its plains and sense of space, open grasslands and natural beauty. Simon joined us in 2008 and we’ve been collaborating ever since.
Tell me a bit about your background.
I’ve been playing music and painting since I was a kid. More formally, I studied composition at the VCA [Victorian College of the Arts] in the late 1980s – where I actually met Simon. He was studying in the improvisation stream at the same time. Jagdeep has been playing tabla since he was a kid, too, and studied under a noted guru, and we’ve all done a lot of gigs in jazz, rock, theatre, etcetera.
What is Dwelling People – City of Light, Spirit of Place?
The installation is like looking into a fishbowl. We’re projecting on the inside walls of the gallery space, and people stand or sit – so bring a chair – and look into the space. It’s most effective from dusk to dawn, when the photos really come to life.
We’re hoping the projections will change the way people use the street; that is, stop, stand, watch, listen and talk. There’s a soundtrack of more than two hours of Legless Lizards music playing continuously.
What are some of the most interesting photos submitted to the exhibition?
Local people have contributed all the photos, so you get a real sense of what people consider important in the area. Some people have been inspired by the natural beauty and sent in photos of local flora and fauna, while others have sent in a photo-essay on the piles of rubbish that are dumped around the place. Others have given us pictures of their backyard, offering us a peep into a usually private world.
What do you love about Sunshine?
Sunshine is still a bit of an undiscovered gem, though you sense that this is changing rapidly. One of my childhood memories was sitting in my room and looking out the window across a seemingly endless golden plain. This image is burnt into my brain and it’s still influencing the art I make. On a more prosaic note, we love the multicultural hustle and bustle of the area, along with the big skies, basalt-lined creeks, open grasslands and unique flora and fauna.
Dwelling People: City of Light/Spirit of Place is at the Sunshine Art Spaces Gallery in City Place, Sunshine, until March 15.
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