White Australia has a Black History by Larissa MacFarlane

I fell in love with Philately (the study of postage stamps and postalhistory) as a young child through my father’s stamp collection. But when my peers moved on, I remained committed. Not only did stamp collecting bring me joy and peace, it has supported me through many difficult life stages including navigating my new life with brain injury at 29. Recent years has seen me dive once again into Philately as a way to manage the ableism and confinement of Covid. This time of isolation has also enabled me to explore my Autistic identity, leading to embracing my ’special interests’ with pride, as well as moving away from the shame of a lifetime of being labelled ‘too sensitive and weird’. I have finally given myself permission to incorporate my love of Philately into my art practice.

This installation of more than 100 origami cranes references the Japanese legend of 1000 cranes (believed to bring peace as well as healing from chronic illness). It features many new linocuts to represent the various patterns found inside envelopes. It invents new postmarks to highlight current socio-political issues of Disability Justice, Black Lives Matter and Covid adaptions. It includes approximately 300 postage stamps and 500 linocut prints.

Alongside this flock of birds, are a selection of small framed artworks that have journeyed the Postal system around the world (as part of recent International Mail Art and Print Exchange projects).