Whose IsLAND Is It Anyway? (2022)


Exhibition at Wandering Room, Brunswick
29-30 October 2022

All photos by David Creed



Exhibition Text

Where are you from… really?
Maldives.
Oh you’re so lucky! It’s so beautiful.
Yeah…
I’d love to visit one day! Why are you in this cold grey Melbourne!?
Close your eyes. Think about Maldives. What do you see?
Hmmm….
Would you like to see some photos from my last trip to Maldives? I just got back a few weeks ago after two months of visiting family, friends and doing some work. I haven't been back since 2019. I stayed in Male’ City.
Lucky you get to escape away to a place like that on your holidays!
I didn’t go on a holiday….


Through photography, graphic design, fabric printing, soft sculptures, sound and furniture I create a space for visitors to navigate through conversations such as these. Conversations rooted in assumptions about spaces created for tourism, the privileges of holidaying, freedom to travel for rest and relaxation.
Whose IsLand Is It Anyway? is part of an ongoing art and research project that critiques representations of island destinations and colonial mechanisms embedded in the tourism marketing of these spaces. You can view the project via The Real Holidays Travel Agency Ptv Ltd https://www.realholidaystravelagency.com/