Visual artist and photographer Cassandra Schultz has only recently returned to live in Singapore. (She spent a few years of her childhood here.) She began in the early 80's as a photographic artist in Melbourne, Australia and exhibited her photographic works there and in Sydney until she was consumed by working in production and design for live theatre and performing arts. After 4 years with the Australian Ballet, she relocated to Brisbane, and picked up her arts practice again, successfully completing a Masters of Visual Arts at Griffith University in 2002, exploring the position of Australian women within the landscape. Her current installation work deals with issues of globalization, displacement and the relationship between experiences of here and memories of elsewhere. She was one of the artists involved in the houseWORK project at the Alliance Francaise.

Source: Housework Project Press Release

The houseWORK project


The houseWORK project is an artist-initiated community project to encourage reflection on the function and impact of housework on the fabric of individual and family life.

By drawing attention to the nature and types of housework, who does it and why, and what difference it makes, we hope to raise the level of appreciation and respect for housework and the people - mothers, wives, husbands, sisters, foreign domestic workers - who perform this work daily either as part of family duty or for economic returns.

The houseWORK project is the effort of several artists, some members of TWC2, the civil society initiative to improve the welfare of the foreign domestic worker, to create a mutually supportive environment for the foreign domestic workers and her Singapore employer.

The focus of the houseWORK project is the perception and nature of housework, its role in and relationship to our lives.

Each artist has conducted a survey of 10 households on their perceptions of housework. The objective is to get the public to reflect on received perceptions and attitudes towards housework. This engagement with the public is integral to the artists' process and provides the material and inspiration for collaborative works and individual works.

One such interactive event planned is an ironing performance because from the survey conducted, ironing seems to be the most hated chore. Members of the public are invited to bring their laundry, for the opening night, to be ironed by the artists.
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The Exhibition is to be held in two phases.

Phase I - the Opening Show
This is scheduled for 5 to 10 September 2003 in a formal art space at the Alliance Francaises, Sarkies Road.

By putting the subject and images of houseWORK in the sanctity of a formal art space away from its routine spaces, we hope to cast new light on the value of this work and generate thought and discussion.

Phase II- Community spaces
We are in negotiations with community organisations to host the exhibition at their venues. Ideally, we would like to hold one exhibition in each area of Singapore - the north, south, east and west.

Taking the exhibition from the formal gallery to community spaces bridges the gap between art and community. A community participation element will be included at each of these exhibitions to encourage dialogue and enhance the non-art community's experience of art and its processes, and to encourage reflection.

The organisers are concurrently looking for interested parties to host the event in community spaces in the north, south, east and west sections of Singapore.

 

New expression of Asian art

Nine Australian artists, seven of whom live in Asia, have been invited to ‘fly the Australian flag’ amongst the Asian flags, to support the development of art around the globe. Dr Lutz Presser, Colin Reaney, Cecily Briggs, Chai-Hiang Cheo, Karee Dahl, Cassandra Schultz, Jane Gover, Samantha Rath, Carli Collins will participate in the 2004 Tainan International Chihsi Arts Festival, – a major arts festival organised by the Taiwan Government to encourage the interchange between international art culture. New expression of Asian art exhibition 2004 will inspire creativity, encourage communication between artists from diverse countries, and emphasise the significance of new country culture. Primarily an Asian festival, Singapore-based Australian artist Chai-Hiang Cheo encouraged the Tainan Cultural Committee to involve Australian art, specifically Australian artists based in Asia. The invitation was considered an honour by the so-often overlooked and marginalised groups of Australian expatriate artists. New expression of Asian art exhibition 2004 is on at the Tainan Municipal Cultural Centre in Taiwan, Republic of China, from 21 August to 5 September.

Source: Art Monthly Bulletin

Griffith University Postgraduate Student Exhibition 2002

Cassandra Schultz is among artists who explore notions of memory and history. Her hand-crafted books bound in kangaroo skin tell the story of her grandmother’s initiation into life in Australia in a work which weaves autobiography with a broader narrative about women’s history.

Venue: Project Gallery, QCA, 226 Grey St, South Bank, QLD 4101
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 11am – 4pm
Exhibition Dates: 2nd Dec – 15th Dec 2002

Source: Griffith University Press Release