Garage Graphix

Garage Graphix was an Australian community group of women artists, active between 1981 and 1998.^[1] It included an Aboriginal Arts Program (1983 - 1984), which was led by Aboriginal arts workers, and it was the first of its kind in Australia; it employed Alice Hinton-Bateup and undertook commissions and design work for Aboriginal organisations around Sydney.^[2]

Based in Mount Druitt, Sydney, Garage Graphix was a community group of women artists committed to creating a space for members to freely express their cultural heritage and identity and it was established with support from Blacktown City Council.^{[3] [4]} It evolved from Mt Druitt Street Art Workers, a loose art collective who created various community mural projects in Lethbridge Park in 1981 and hosted cultural events.^[5]

In 1981 a Management Committee was formed and was created in the garage of an opera singer and it was adjacent to the community centre.^[5] The development was described by early key members and coordinators as follows:

Garage Graphix was.. developed by arts workers active in the women's movement, who were committed to working with and for communities to facilitate expression of their values and beliefs: to illuminate issues of concern. A collective in its early days. Garage Graphix became and incorporated entity in 1982. It was governed by a management committee comprising local residents and community works providing communities throughout western Sydney with access to specialist skills, printmaking equipment and facilities

— Lin Mountstephen and Marla Guppy, 2019, Text supplied by Blacktown Arts Centre, Significance Assessment: Garage Graphix Community Art Workshop Poster Archive, 2021

A screen printing workshop and design space, the "Garage" produced political and affirmative action posters during the 1980s related to Indigenous Land Rights, Indigenous Women's rights, and other women's rights issues.^[6] Garage Graphix exhibited along with Redback Graphix at University Fine Arts Gallery in 1988 in an exhibition titled Shocking Diversity.^[7]

The "Garage" operated on the principle that "the people of Western Sydney have the right to play an active role in the way their culture develops".^[8] Facilities provided included a photocopier, photographic darkroom, process camera, layout and design area, screen printing workshop, and t-shirt printing "jig".^[8]

It closed due to a number of factors including a loss of key staff, a reduced focus and funding from government and screen-printing beginning to be viewed as 'old technology'.^[5]

When the Garage closed its archives, including objects, records and approximately 400 posters, were placed in storage at Blacktown City Council. In 2021, through the assistance of a Community Heritage Grant, made available by the National Library of Australia, a significance assessment of this collection was completed.^[2]

The Powerhouse Museum holds over 50 prints by Garage Graphix in its collection including Dispossessed (1980s) a poster by Alice Hinton-Bateup. This work includes text and focuses on the forced relocation of Aboriginal people (Kamilaroi/Wonnarua) and their loss of connection to Country.^{[9] [10]} Hinton-Bateup's Ruth's Story (1988) is included in the National Gallery of Australia's travelling exhibition Know My Name which aims to increase the representation of women artists.^[11]

• Significance Assessment: Garage Graphix Community Art Workshop Poster Archive, 2021

• Australian artist groups and collectives
• Australian artists
• 1981 establishments in Australia

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata