Often my work about art in public space has more of an art leaning – sound, performance, space, etc.
Lately, it’s been focused on the public bit. The bios politikos seen in hannah arendt‘s the human condition. Gender and sexual identity are a massive part of what drives my high horse, especially when it comes to public insitutions and, unsurprisingly, i’ve been supporting recent pushes for marriage equality across sexual orientation.
As it stands, i think the institution of marriage is in a bit of a state – it needs to be reconnected to the reasons for having an area of law that governs relationships between people that combine emotion and posessions and effect how succession is legislated (ie: families).
This is a little something of what I wrote to the Senate for their inquiry into the issue:
I have family who have been afforded protection by the Marriage Act who have been violent, abusive, financially negligent and hold complete disregard for the rights of their spouses.
I have family and dear friends who are in loving, committed relationships – who uphold the human rights of their partners, who participate in their communities, who value love, support and financial stability, yet who are not afforded the same rights when it comes to participating in the institution of marriage.
In every other way they uphold the responsibilities of their entitlement to being protected by the Marriage Act. And yet their sexual orientation (something for which their employment, education and citizenship itself cannot be discriminated against) is the only quality which continues to exclude them.
This is not right.
What it says about Australia is that our Marriage Act, and the institution of marriage is only for the protection of a certain percentage of our population, many of whom we allow to continue abusing it and corrupting it without recourse.
I support marriage equality, as it will realign our institution of Marriage with the kind of values it needs to continue: love, committment, participation in the community and upholding the human rights of our loved ones.
I would like Australia’s politikos to be as robust as possible.