Che Ritz

Silence Trauma & Affect 2008-2013 is an investigation into Parramatta Girls Home, Parramatta, NSW (1880-1974) and Hay Girls Institute, Hay, NSW (1961-1974). I have contextualised a collection of works that interpret through narrative and conceptual perspective, a visual history of these institutions, and documented the trauma and violent conditions that permeated the Child Welfare System in NSW from 1961-1974.

The collection of works is in six parts and is a visual response to the experiences of the girls.  Multi media including the moving image, relief sculpture, assemblage and 2d paintings create an evocative representation of these issues. The process of transforming everyday objects such as the industrial and domestic and developing a new trajectory is vital to my practice. In these works this is manifested through interpreting the stories of the girls from Parramatta Girls Home and Hay Girls Institute.

Weapons Series: Shivs 2004-2007  is an investigation and critique into the use of weapons in society both locally and internationally.  The critical issue in my investigation is the use of weapons in society: how weapons are conceptualized; how they are used as instruments of social control; and their material and symbolic circulation.  For instance, how they are taken up by gangs, prisoners and refugees in detention centres, on one hand, and the law enforcement on the other.

The materials I work with are found objects and reused materials, sourced on the streets of my neighbourhood.  My intention is to keep the simplicity of form and the works unsophisticated/naïve.  The process is important as I form a relationship with the materials and recontextualise the object from the everyday into an artwork. 

 Louis Semi Automatic Guns:  2007 is an investigation into the use of guns in society, and in particular, a critique of the Louis Automatic Machine Gun.  The Louis Automatic Machine Gun was manufactured in the early 1900’s, (approx 1915) and was considered one of the most efficient and effective guns used on the battlefield in WW1.  This was due to its light weight portability and cooling mechanisms.

Family 2014 is a series of photographic images portraying family complexities. This work challenges the notion of normalcy. Using the match as a metaphor each image refers to the changing dynamics in family relationships.

Bones 2014 Works in progress.  

Script 2014 Works in progress.

Broadmeadows 2000: is an Installation of 4000 paper bags.  This work was informed by the notion of Breath, Memory and Mortality.

Sex Device 2002: investigates the notion of sexuality and fetish objects.

Glory Hole #1-#2 2003: explores the world of anonymous  sex and the dangerous edge of sexual contact with unseen and unknown participants. 

Unrequited Love 2003 is an autobiographical work.

The Realm is a visual and audio response to  work place situations and a sense of powerlessness many people experience.  It also refers to the period Barry O’Farrell came into power as premier of NSW and started axing jobs in the public service and cutting funding to services. This culling included women’s services some of which were established in the late 70’s & 80’s by feminists in the women’s movement.  It also suggests the encroaching influence of corporatisation in business and institutions in both the public and private sector.  Workers are becoming silenced as they sign work place agreements and contracts or are made casuals. Increasingly they are forced into submission and become compliant as they are too scared to speak up in case they are sacked.

The New Trees 2020 is a series of small drawings critiquing the construction and mass development of the InnerWest, Sydney, and its impact on the suburban landscape. The Inner West landscape has altered. Through a flux of overdevelopment and construction of WestConnex we are confronted with a horizon of scaffolding and cranes. Cranes becoming the “new aesthetic”. The New Trees 2020 is a documentation and visual history of these urban changes.

The Fragile City 2021

Beeswax is made and used by bees to build and protect their hives. I have used it in this work to express the frailty of our own urban environment. Although the buildings are depicted as ruins the light shines through the beeswax to reveal its delicacy and portrays beauty and a sense of hope.

The Fragile City Part 2 2021

There is a beauty, vulnerability and fragility in these stitched and skin-like dwellings. Despite an attempt to be mended they cannot conceal their deterioration and decay. The materiality of this work is crucial and the work reflects the urgency of the ecological crisis we are now facing. This work is a work in progress. The process explores and develops an intimacy with the material by sourcing beeswax from a local beekeeper melting, pressing, designing and allowing the work to create itself.

The Fragile City Part 3 2021

Made from a complex composition of beeswax. The shadowy shape in each box is a dead insect. They appear encased in a translucent tomb that provides them with protection and immortality. The hazy image alludes to a memory – a time when a child played outdoors surrounded by many different insects. It was hard to source and collect dead bugs for this project, causing a delay in producing a larger body of work. The scarcity of insects in my immediate habitat indicates to me the urgency to take action and try and reverse this catastrophe.