Passion Power Politics: Bronwyn Bancroft Retrospective

Overview

What happened to Carriageworks? Lisa Havilah is what happened. It would appear that this fine lady just stretches out, touches and all turns to gold. Very, very quickly. After only twelve months as Director at Carriageworks Havilah has taken that sprawling mess of boundless potential and turned it into something that appears to have the semblance of an artspace, with an actual exhibition program, and no less, one that is engaging and relevant. Thank you, Lisa, thank you.

And 2012 looks set to be a jam-packed year for the former railway yard site. In February we will have the chance to delve into the thirty year career of Bronwyn Bancroft. Bancroft has never been one to limit herself and is known for her diverse talents from artist to fashion designer, illustrator to activist.

As a high achiever of the boundless energy type Bancroft was amazingly the first Australian fashion designer to be invited to show her work in Paris in 1985 with her fashion outlet, Designer Aboriginals. She was also one of the founding members (together with Fiona Foley and Tracey Moffatt and others) of the Boomalli Aboriginal Co-operative which marks its 25th anniversary this year. So if you, like me, are in need of a little inspirational get-up-and-go to fire you into start of the first official work week of 2012 (that’s January 30 in case you were not aware, yes, I have been putting it off) I well recommend diving head first into the story of Bronwyn Bancroft.