About this event
Join us for an afternoon of SALTY snacks with Marilena Hewitt, creative director of PLATYPUS publications. Marilena's work recognises the unseen Australian icons hiding at the intersection of stolen land and culture in the Anthropocene. In particular, they are interested in the platypus as an icon, a magical creature, which they describes as ‘swimming somewhere between land and life.’
We will begin with a conversation with Marilena reflecting on the development of the latest issue of the publication SALTY — a practical and poetic guide to navigating the environmental impacts of the climate crisis on Queensland land and waterways. This will be followed by a series of delicious Italian treats catered by Marilena and their mother Marilena Mammerella.
This event is presented in conjunction with UQ Art Museum’s exhibition Oceanic Thinking, which is the inaugural exhibition of the multi-year program Blue Assembly, presents new ways of understanding the ocean and the adjacent blue spaces of our planet.
Marilena Hewitt (they/them) is a queer small-press and digital publisher, writer, film maker and architecture graduate devoted to design and community-based documentation. Their experimental practice is obsessed with documenting mass extinction with love, humour and care. They believe that hope resides in the biosphere, and in the human and non-humans who understand it the most.
In their work they strive to rearrange, to never erase nor develop over. To truly consider something as it is. Just differently and without fear. Through their background in architecture, they have come to see publishing as an implicitly political act and take up the challenge of imagining a new kind of reading and/or living.
SALTY | PLATYPUS PUBLICATION
"SALTY is about exploring the sticky nuances of the mangroves and mudflats and to celebrate the most beautiful and mundane cultural icons in my life- my family.
It shares through a variety of mediums and anecdotes, stories of climate change and rituals/relationships around salt-water and food and navigating queerness in a quintessential Australian/Italian nuclear family PLUS secret Italian recipes from my mother. The contributions are honest and a little salty but made with an enormous amount of love and appreciation for my parents and the beautiful big tides I grew up on.
The publication is a practical way to think more deeply about our connection to local water ways, support of local farmers, and efforts to live lightly and considerately – but also in collaboration with all the many people and beings who inhabit them."
Marilena Hewitt
Please note:
*This event is ticketed. $15 includes food and non-alcoholic drinks (Sobah, NON 0% wine, Italian soft drink). SALTY magazine will be available for purchase with tickets for the special price of $30.
*Limited gluten free and vegan options. Vegetarian options available. Unfortunately due to the nature of this event we can't accommodate dietary substitutes.
*This is an outdoor event on the front lawn so please bring a hat and something to keep warm later in the afternoon.
*Accessibility: Our accessibility guide is available here to help you plan and enjoy your visit to UQ Art Museum. If you don’t see the information you need or have any questions, please contact our team via phone: (07) 3365 3046 or email us, as we'll be very happy to assist.
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Image courtesy of Marilena Hewitt