Lisa Jacomos reflects on her curatorship of Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down, an exhibition hosted at Melbourne’s George Paton Gallery from 7 to 16 August 2019. Lisa co-curated the exhibition with Cathryn Ross following the pair’s trip to New York City where they aspired to ‘uncover art that spoke for the people’. After gathering materials such as ‘zines, posters and ephemera’, the curators decided to juxtapose material from New York with material by Melbourne artists. The resulting exhibition highlighted commonalities and differences in art-based activism in both cities, including unexpected findings such as the use of humour in Melbourne’s visual culture – a trait that was not typically found among the New York activist art. The exhibition is over, but you can find out more about Lisa and Cathryn’s project at The Bastard Zine Collection.
In August 2019, I curated an exhibition at the George Paton Gallery entitled Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down. This exhibition featured artists whose work makes up part of the visual culture of Melbourne or New York City. These works were predominantly zines and posters which deal with social activism in its varying forms. In the present climate, these artists are more important than ever as people are remembering the power they hold in their hands. However, it is important to remember who our true enemies are and what we are trying to achieve.
Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down is a show about having an open dialogue. It is a show about standing up for what you believe in. It’s a show about respect. It is not a show about hate. It is not a show about screaming in people’s faces. It is not about division, or finger pointing, or shaming. I believe that there is room in society for people to protest in all manner of ways. I believe that people shouldn’t be forced into anything. While today we may be faced with discrimination, violent attacks, and hateful speech, I believe that responding in like manner will only lead to further division.
Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down exhibition photo by Lisa Jacomos.
I once heard someone say that the opposite of love is not hate, but fear. I certainly believe this is the case; I’ve seen it in my own family. There’s a reason we use words such as xenophobic, homophobic, and transphobic. People are afraid. They are afraid because the world is changing, and they don’t understand those changes.
I remember watching the Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast when I was a child. Due to his jealousy, antagonist Gaston leads the people to attack and kill the beast – his rival. As they march to the castle, the people sing the lines “We don’t like what we don’t understand. In fact, it scares us.” He is only able to take control because they are afraid. He manipulates the people’s fear and uses it for his own ends. Sound familiar?
This is not only happening in fiction. It was fear that led to thousands of people (mostly women) being tortured and killed as witches in the fifteenth century. It was fear that led the German people to vote in the National Socialist Party in 1933, resulting in the slaughter of eleven million people. And it was fear that led to an Australian man walking into a Christchurch place of worship and shooting one hundred peoples, killing fifty-one. Fifty-one people, including children, who were in a Mosque peacefully worshipping God.
This shouldn’t be still happening in the twenty-first century. We need to stand up and say no. No to the hate. Not to the violence. I know that at times (most of the time) it seems overwhelming. But individuals can do something. Anything. To quote another Disney movie: ‘The ripples. See how they grow, but someone has to start them.’ Remember, it was one person deciding to boo rather than cheer that brought down the Communist regime in Romania in 1989.
Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down exhibition photo by Lisa Jacomos.
We need this. We need whoever is sticking up activist posters all over Melbourne. We need these artists. We need the Nicky Minuses, the Sam Wallmans, the Peter Drews. We need to stand up for what we believe in. In any way that we can. Any way that is safe for us. Any way that fosters love and understanding rather than fear and hate.
Let’s not let the bastards grind us down.
Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down exhibition photo by Lisa Jacomos.
Photos and words by Lisa Jacomos. Lisa originally presented this material as a speech at the George Paton Gallery in August 2019. Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down was shown from 7 to 16 August.