“Gerard O’Connor and Marc Wasiak have produced an important body of art work over the past 10 years. Their aesthetic is impressive, their technique is refined and the production is amazing.” [Elda Harrington – Festival Director Encuentros Abiertos – Festival De La Luz]
That’s high praise. The Festival de La Luz is one of the world’s most respected arts festivals.
O’Connor and Wasiak were asked to represent Australia there in 2016. They have been invited back as the only Australians to have a solo show on a theme specifically created for the festival. My Milonga. The Dance of the Heart will be that work.
My Milonga. The Dance of the Heart is a series of complex and large-scale photographic images inspired by the tango. It is both the pair’s expression of the majesty of one of the world’s great dance styles and their exploration of diversity in humanity and a narrative about Australia embracing the changing face of its people.
Its roots go back to Argentina in 2016. After the Festival, Festival De La Luz acquired six of the pair’s images for their International collection (director’s choice). The main work, The Pleasure Garden, was collected by the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Ministerio de Cultura, the most important Fine Art Museum in Argentina (selected by its director Andre Duprat). The Australian Embassy, under the direction of Noel Campbell in Buenos Aires, also requested a major work for their collection. The Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove, his secretary and the Ambassador Sir Noel and Lady Campbell requested a private viewing of the exhibition. The Governor General requested four of the pair’s works to be added to the collection for Government House Australia, Canberra.
O’Connor and Wasiak had put aside their advertising and fashion work to become internationally recognised artists.
While in Argentina presenting their exhibition, O’Connor and Wasiak attended many Milonga’s (tango dance halls). These historic dance halls inspired them to recreate the energy and magnetism of a tango dance scene juxtaposing it with the earthy environs of the North Melbourne Meat Market. O’Connor and Wasiak have been invited back as the only Australians to have a solo show on a theme specifically created for the festival, My Milonga. The Dance of the Heart will be that work.
“We shot this at the Meat Market North Melbourne and set it up like 1940s film stills,” O’Connor explained.
We used the tango as a metaphor for where art and culture meets lifestyle. Not the show biz tango for the tourists but the heart-felt tango seen in community dance halls, which transport dancers back to the early days of migration and was the glue for social and cultural life. The tango has lasted since the 1800s and is at the heart of Argentina. It has had an international resurgence since the 1980s, so we are using it to explore diverse relationships.”
The tango is a dance of changing partners who learn from each other and respectfully leading or follow and negotiate the dance floor. “This project offers an exceptional opportunity for cross-cultural exchange, same sex discussion and exploring diverse notions of beauty. It has taken us into new artistic territory by visually investigating another art form. Probably of greatest importance is that the dance lasted because it’s cross-cultural and diverse,” O’Connor added.
“It shows that one can be reborn again a time of renewal. It represents the tension between old young, gay and straight, and all races. Between a desire to recreate the Golden Age, and to evolve it in the light of modern culture and values.”
The tango is also connected to the recent explosion of interest around the world in the culture of Argentina and its South American neighbours. And in Buenos Aires, as in Australia, people come from diverse backgrounds, particularly Italy and Spain.
“It’s a city very similar to Melbourne or Sydney, where new people came to settle, start a new life and find their fortune,” O’Connor noted.
O’Connor has photographed campaigns for New Balance, Melbourne Central, fashion label, Do It Baby, Pepsi, V, Quest Hotels, Target, Nokia, Jim Beam, Nando’s, Adidas and MLA. Explore his work here.
