Footscray Star interviews Paola Balla

Footscray Star
Charlene Gatt
07/02/12

See the article in its original context here.

WEST Footscray artist Paola Balla has been shortlisted for a Victorian Indigenous Art Award.

Ms Balla is one of 20 artists in the running for more than $50,000 in prizes, with awards announced at an exhibition at Melbourne’s fortyfivedownstairs next month.

She was shortlisted for two pieces – a photo called Kaden Boy, and a photo and video called Sacred Ibis.

Kaden Boy is a piece that is especially close to Ms Balla’s heart. The picture is an iPhone photo she took of her son a couple of years ago.

“He was six at the time and it was after my uncle had passed away, so it was a bit of a sad time and we were in Heathcote and he was just walking along and his shadow fell against a wall and in the shadow he appears to be a young Aboriginal warrior, and my shadow was falling onto a tree.

“It was a really interesting photograph … it’s a really simple picture, but it seems to have other things in it. The shadows are transformed into something else.”

Sacred Ibis was based on a dead Sacred Ibis bird she found on a walk around Newport Lakes.

“I was kind of alarmed that no-one seemed to notice it.

“I thought it was really interesting and saw it as a bit of a metaphor for when things happen in life, particularly to Indigenous people, that sometimes people don’t always notice, or seem to be indifferent to it.”

This is the third year in a row she has been nominated. Last year, Ms Balla won one of the categories for her sculpture A Little Birdy Told Me.

Ms Balla grew up drawing and painting and said most of her work was inspired by the Aboriginal side of her family.

She recently took up a new position as curator of the Indigenous Cultural Centre at the Melbourne Museum.

Seddon artist Brian Martin was also nominated for two of his works – Methexical Countryscape: Wurundjeri #2 and Methexical Countryside: Wiradjuri #2

Find more information on the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards here.