Review on She'll Be Right

Barbara Vivash

S2765600

Review on She’ll Be Right

Rachael Hayes, the Director of the artist-run initiative, (ARI), welcomed the group to Boxcopy. She explained that Boxcopy is a non-profit organisation formed with the intention of supporting innovative and conceptual early to mid-career Australian artists. In 2007 Boxcopy was founded as a venue where graduates in the visual arts and emerging artists could exhibit and participate in the art-scene network.

Rachael explained that often an ARI will usually have an operational life of two to three years. However if a durable structure is in place with a workable heirachy i.e. a director, a manager and a board, the initiative may continue for several years. A good example is Firstdraft, a Sydney based artist-run initiative which has operated for twenty years. Boxcopy’s volunteer structure consists of a director, two gallery managers and a board of seven.

Boxcopy has government based funding through Arts Queensland, the Brisbane City Council, Visual Arts and Craft Strategy and MAAP (Multimedia Art Asia Pacific). As government based funding will not pay for real estate, the project also sources funding from the members of the infrastructure and local fund raising initiatives. All positions in the gallery are purely voluntary, each member valuing the experience, the networking potential and being able to ‘give back’ to the art community.

Clark Beaumont is currently exhibiting She’ll Be Right at the gallery and were present to discuss their work and inspirations. Sarah Clark and Nicole Beaumont are a collaborative duo, working with screen-based culture to explore interpersonal relationships, female subjectivity and intimacy. They reflected that a number of Australian films that they have known since childhood have influenced their own identities through repeated exposure to characteristically Australian identities and traits.

They decided to do a ‘mash-up’ of these iconic films to create and express a narrative through their own performance.

She’ll Be Right, is a ‘mash-up’ of Muriel’s Wedding and The Castle. The installation consists of five video screens, each fed through its corresponding DVD player. Three screens have been positioned on a gallery wall with the remaining two positioned directly opposite. At any one time, three of the videos are engaged. Nicole Beaumont said that ideally, the viewer should stand in the middle of the gallery space and turn from screen to screen.

Each video sequence runs for up to three and one half minutes, after which, another machine will begin its programme. This creates a cross current of high impact dialogue. By substituting themselves into the film scenes, using repetitive phrases, changing the wording, the timing and the sequence of the phrases, the viewer is constantly bemused, as they listen to familiar male voices issuing from totally discordant female faces.

The most arresting of the three video sequences, is a scene from The Castle where Micahel Caton’s character, Darryl Kerrigan is arguing with his solicitor, Dennis Denuto (Tiriel Moro). The actual dialogue is: –

 “You have lost faith in yourself Dennis.

Darryl,

You have lost faith!

Darryl it’s over my head, its over your head too!

Over my head! Dennis!”

Darryl!”

The reconstructed dialogue from the video is:-

“It’s over my head. (fading in)

It’s over my head. (still fading in)

Darryl, you have lost faith

You have lost faith

[Wake up to yourself] – (interpolated from another video).

You have lost faith.

Darryl, you have lost faith.

Darryl it’s over my head and it is over your head too.

It’s over my head!

Darryl, you have lost faith

Darryl you have lost faith.

Darryl it’s over my head and it’s over your head too.

It’s over my head!

It’s over my head!

It is interesting that the name ‘Darryl’ has replaced ‘Dennis’ in the dialogue. Sarah Clark takes the role of Darryl, emulating the nuances of Caton’s movements. The repetition of the clichéd phrases creates the sense of overwhelming failure and the inevitability of its acceptance.

The second scene of the installation depicts a guy and a girl (Sarah) romping in a back yard. A clothes airing rack has been placed on the grass. The laughing, happy couple skip around the rack touching the frame occasionally. Nicole is standing at a window silently watching the couple. The window opens and Nicole shouts “Wake up to yourself!”, “Wake up to yourself!”, “Wake up to yourself!” The video fades but one of the other 5 screens is activated. There are usually 3 screens operating at any one time.

This is Clark Beaumont’s re-enactment of this scene from Muriel’s Wedding. Perry, (Muriel’s brother), is in the greatly overgrown backyard, kicking a carton of milk pretending it is a football. He shouts: “He kicks the goal!” “Heslop! Heslop!” All the while, watching from a window is his father, Bill Heslop (Bill the battler). Bill is outraged, furious! He suddenly thrusts the window open and shouts “Perry!” A smouldering silence, “Wake up to yourself!” and slams the window closed.

Perry has paused mid-kick. As the window is closed, he resumes his game, kicking the carton again.

The re-enactment of this scene involves a total reconstruction. There are two people in the backyard, instead of one; the couple are playing ring-a-rosy around the airing rack and not playing football; Nicole’s portrayal of Bill hunter’s character is not a re-creation; the dialogue is repeated three times. The command, “wake up to yourself!” is a phrase often used by an Australian parent. Perhaps the puerile activity in the re-enactment emphasises the inadequacy of the ridiculous phrase.

In the third re-enactment, Sarah and Nicole are seen resting pensively against a tree, while the instrumental sounds of ABBA’s Fernando fade in softly. After a short time the girls are singing the words, “If I had to do the same again, I would my friend Fernando”. This scene is also a re-portrayal of a segment from Muriel’s Wedding. After a lip-sync competition, Muriel and Rhonda are resting in drunken companionship against the trunk of a palm tree, poolside. They are both pensively looking up at the night sky. They begin to sing softly the words to ABBA’s Fernando, “If I had to do the same again, I would my friend Fernando”.

In this scene Sarah and Nicole capture the essence of the original scene, the quiet presence, the wordless companionship. These are the necessary identifiers of ‘mateship’. This scene succeeds without the repetitive dialogue and achieves a mocking success with a long, long silence and the plaintive strains of Fernando.

By drawing on sequences from Muriel’s Wedding and The Castle, two iconic Australian films, Clark Beaumont have tapped into the viewer’s sense of the familiar. Through selective editing they have reconstructed scenes to expose the intrinsic Australian identity by portraying characteristics of failure, insecurity and conviction. During the interview, Nicole Beaumont indicated that they aim to entertain the audience, but ultimately “the rest is up to the viewer”. Sarah Clark revealed that, their approach to each project is through “consuming, analysing and producing”.

References

Clark Beaumont, 2012, Boxcopy .Retrieved 11 October 2012 from http://boxcopy.org/2012/09/19/clark-beaumont/

Muriel’s Wedding 1994, DVD, Australian Film Finance Corp. Ltd., Film Victoria and House & Moorhouse Films Pty Ltd and Peter Szabo & Associates Pty Ltd.

Studio Visit with Clark Beaumont, 2012 Safari 2012/supporting unrepresented and emerging artists. Retrieved 11 October 2012 from http://safari.org.au

The Castle, 1997, Village Roadshow Pictures and Working Dog.