Being Human

Posted by Jessica Watts on May 04, 2017

"Human" is the name of a child-artist response project showing at Manly Art Gallery this month. This amazing exhibition is curated and facilitated by Lilly Blue and Jo Pollitt, the makers of the Big Kids Magazine. It's a rare occasion to see childrens' work hanging side by side the adults' in a gallery setting. The show is whimsical, vibrant and is brimming with energy. It's really worth a visit.

Sadly for me, I bore sons with zero interest in art. So I invited my son's friend Archie to respond to my artwork "Karma Camellia". The title is a cheeky play on the epinonimous Culture Club song from the 80’s "Karma Chamelleon". The songs lyrics suggested that if you aren’t true to yourself, then you get Karma-justice, which is nature’s way of paying you back.

I was interested to see how an 11 year old boy would respond to artwork that focusses on feminine identity.

Archie is at the age now where he is ready to cross the bridge between being “good at drawing” and being a creative thinker. We worked on many quick small sketches to express ideas first. Over the weeks Archie honed his thoughts and struck upon this lovely idea to respond to my work by talking about masculinity:

My women are at one with nature, they merge with it and emerge from it. Archie’s male is controlling nature - his backbone is the machinery that creates it.

This was a thrilling process and I think the conversation between these two artworks is intriguing.