1992

1997: Living in West Footscray. Studio Albert Street Footscray. Partner Brett Jones. Pets two. Work Monash University.

1992: Living in West Footscray. Studio Oxford Street Collingwood. Partner Brett Jones. Pets two. Work Firbank Girls School.

I speak of 1992 from the position and viewpoint of 1997. I have had five years, to shift and change, develop new lines, extend and modify old ones.

Melodrama, is the piece I put forward as testimony for their being a 1992. It defines a point where myself and Brett Jones, became involved in teledrama, soaps, chat shows, info-commercials, private spaces of living, computers, design and independent art spaces. It signifies a period of time when histories were discarded and a collaborative arts partnership formed. I do not mean to bestow it with undue importance, for it is similar to all the years which have preceeded it. Like all years laden with events, conversations, there is something to salvage, an idea or thought; a new way of looking which affects the present. I spoke to my partner about this period of time, together we traced old ground, we were not hoping to discover a singular voice. We simply counted down the years, fully aware of our differences in seeing.

I have a habit of forgetting easily, of moving forward quickly and impatiently. 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992.

1992 was perhaps a significant year for personal histories to be retold at later dates, yet I'm loathed to tell a few falsehoods, to whitewash and select a romanticised history. I cannot recall the music I was playing, the food I tasted, whether my studio was hot or cold or warm, productive or stagnant. I don't know what words I uttered or recorded, whether I felt the emotions of intense hate, envy, love or satisfaction. I do know that 1992 happened, that I created a series of works titled Melodrama, computer generated art works, crafted from collaged newspaper texts and idealised symbol types. And I do know that I only reveal what is absolutely necessary.

Hazy images float in and out of an endless white expanse. Violence enacted within the parameters of an A4 page. Text, sliced using a scalpel from a daily newspaper and collaged. Type, redrawn, scaled and photocopied. Scanned and manipulated to become something else.

Sarah Stubbs