The Alfred Solomons project
Behind the Counter
The Alfred Solomons Project is an inter-generational and cross cultural art exploration capturing memory and validation of human experience, as participants interpret and develop moments of life stories into unique creative works. The Alfred Solomons Project (TASP) aims to ignite interest in the experience of strangers, establish the value of communication and expression and facilitate community and personal connections.
Following face-to face exchanges based around written interviews, young Flag Inc. artists shape their responses to life stories through a series of art making and performance creation workshops which culminate in a live, public outcome.
TASP Footscray | Behind the Counter
In November 2019, the latest instalment of TASP took place as part of the Due West Festival. Flag Inc. took audiences on a journey through Footscray with Behind the Counter; an exploration of the shopkeeper’s domain. With the old and new guard of Footscray’s traders as it’s inspiration and its newest young arrivals as guides, Flag Inc. invited visitors and locals to contemplate the timelessness of place, entering hidden realms through an art installation series and performance tour created by the young artists of Melbourne’s West.
Curator/Directors for Behind the Counter: Naomi Brouwer & Dan Goronszy.
Presented by Due West Arts Festival and as part of One Night in Footscray.
Watch the short film of the Behind the Counter performance tour here:
For the tour route of Behind the Counter an illustrated map was created incorporating the following businesses: (Design: Morayo Adeyemi)
An Phat Herbs & Acupuncture: 131a Hopkins St Footscray
Ethnic Chinese Happy Age Association of Victoria: 1st Floor, 38 Leeds St Footscray
Franco Cozzo: 54 Hopkins St Footscray
Khartoum Restaurant: 145 Nicholson St Footscray
Kulan Eatery: 144-148 Nicholson St Footscray
Sokeeye Shop: 135 Nicholson St Footscray
T. Cavallaro & Sons: 98 Hopkins St Footscray
Flag Inc. acknowledges the ancestors and traditional custodians of the land on which this artwork was made and is shown and pay respect to Elders past and present.
Meet TASP Footscray’s young artists:
Grace Arnold is a 20 year old artist of the very new “New Guard” of Footscray, having moved to the west half-way through this project. She has been creating in some form or another her entire life. Growing up in regional Victoria, Grace occupied herself throughout childhood by drawing and making things (clothes, jewellery, embroidered socks, collages, paper dolls, clay miniatures). Now Grace’s creative outpourings mostly take the form of line drawings, prose and poetry, as well as photographing friends and the spaces that surround her on her Dad’s 1980’s Minolta camera . When Grace responded to Flag.Inc’s call for young artists from the west, she was studying in Footscray but did not anticipate the extent to which this project would influence her life. Now living in Footscray, Grace feels connected in to her new community and through these interviews and conversations she has developed an understanding of how this community has changed and grown to what it is now, and what it might become. Behind the Counter is the first public art project she has been involved in.
Najib Warsame: Najib is committed to dismantling the systems and institutions that enable and uphold racism. Najib works as a Bilingual Learning Outreach Officer and Youth Worker at Brimbank City Council. In his arts practice, Najib endeavours to empower community to share their unique stories, claim their narratives and use the power of story-telling as a creative method of expression to create change. He believes that young people are a source of talent, creativity and resilience in our community. Through his work with the Alfred Solomons project, Najib has seen new ways to be able to bridge cultural and generational gaps to harness the power of art through community connection, reflection and examination of his own Somalian culture. Najib loves deep cackles and penne pasta.
Morayo Adeyemi Morayo (AKA Momo) is a creative practicing in the fields of built environments, community development and the arts. Her work focuses on designing for the learning journeys of everyday people, professionals and teams. Morayo has spent the last 6 years involved in community led projects in the West of Melbourne with a focus on optimising emerging economies and existing intergenerational relationships for better learning and pathways. After recently taking some time away from the world of local government, she has being focused on nourishing her creativity by designing the walking tour map for the Behind the Counter project and working on a creative endeavour for textured hair learning.
Artworks created for the Due West Festival were inspired by interviews and conversations with the following shop owners. More information about these businesses is available by clicking on the business names:
‘Continuum’ | Grace Arnold in conversation with Michael Quach of An Phat herbs & Acupuncture Grace: “The poem in the window of An Phat came from discussion with Michael around his reasons for continuing his fathers business and working as a herbalist. There was no question, as he himself said “I was born with it. I live it.”
‘Destination’ | Grace Arnold in conversation with Tony Cavallaro of T. Cavallaro & Sons Grace: “Tony Cavallero has taken on the family business he was raised in. He is upholding a family legacy and staying true to the original experience, while moving forward through new eras of Footscray. Tony is a strong supporter of the Footscray community, always with a table to share”.
‘Wadanka Dadal’ | Artist Najib Warsame in conversation with Halima Hersi Abdi of Sokeeye Shop Najib: “Out of the conversation with a family friend, an aunty who I had a deeper connection to than I previously thought, I discovered the connecting point of being in the same refugee camp prior to arriving in Australia. The art was inspired through having a familial connection to an elder who I had the honour to learn from and see myself in. Her story is a story of triumph, a journey from country to country with the desire to work hard and reinvent herself with the support and connection to her culture paving the way for opportunities.
‘Taking Flight’ | Artist Najib Warsame in conversation with Hamada Ahmed of Khartoum Restaurant Najib: “In the orange painted and angled windows of Khartoum, Ahmed’s desire to provide items reflecting the East African Disapora, from Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eriteria is reflected in the diversity of his menu. A conversation was had over food to find the passion behind the cooking, learning of Ahmed’s desire in coming to Australia to further his education, a dream with wings was discovered. A dream to soar the skies, as a pilot. This art work was inspired by Ahmed’s dream and his advice to all migrants to prioritise their learning as it can open up the sky for them.
‘Our Gathering Place’ | Najib Warsame in conversation with Mohamed Yasin of Kulan Eatery Najib: “Mohamed is a Somali entrepreneur who secured is dream of owning his business, through the passion of cooking with his sisters and mothers learning the art of Somali cooking. Seeing the need within his community, he initially pursued a career in first aid in Anaphylaxis to provide interpreting support for community members. The art was inspired through Mohamed’s passion for creating space for people to gather, share stories and connect over food.
‘Double-Edged Pen’ | Grace Arnold in conversation with Le Moloney of Ethnic Chinese Happy Age Association of Victoria Inc. Grace: “Out of a tiny back office, past table tennis courts and mahjong tables, above a jewellers and a dress shop, Le provides voluntary casework and translations for older members of the Chinese and Vietnamese community. In her office I also found a bowl of doubled ended pens, red and blue biros held together with elastic bands. I saw these as Le’s unique tools for clarifying clients problems, and navigating the muddy world of government systems quickly and efficiently”.
‘Nunzietta’ | Artist Grace Arnold in conversation with Franco Cozzo of Franco Cozzo Grace: “Meeting Franco Cozzo was discovering the human behind the legend. This piece is a dedication to his mother, Nunzietta, to mothers who are apart from their children great distances away, and to all mothers, as Franco said, “are the most special”.
Acknowledgements:
Clare Barry, Amelia Ducker, Sharyn Brand, Steve Marmo, Jack Marmo, Freddie Marmo, Tom Shute, Ashley Hughes, Gemma Wyke, Bishara Warsame, Gabby Creed, Snuff Puppets, Georgina Ross, Jodie Brown, Chloe Walker, Adam Brownlie, Max Franco, Rae Franco, Phoenix Youth Hub, Bonnie Clark , Lana Nguyen, Louisa Minutillo and The Grace Household.
Thank you all for your generous support of Behind the Counter.
