State of origin

State of origin was a multimedia piece by Stephen Cassidy, developed with visual artist, Deborah Faeyrglenn, as part of the Conversations exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery in 2004. It involved many different kinds of creative dialogue between five artists and five writers.

State of origin looked at where we come from, where we go next and where we truly belong. In this work the writer and visual artist combined word, image and computer technology to make visual music. Words and images moved across the computer screen, with no fixed address.

One of the slides from State of origin

While Stephen is primarily a writer, he has always had a strong interest in visual arts and images, though it is not his main area of expertise or interest. For both these reasons, working with a visual artist with a similar approach, stretched the visual side of his skills and also provided a different perspective on his writing.

Word wall

The Conversations exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery in 2004 included a series of poetry and prose, Word wall, by Stephen Cassidy, many with images by visual artist, Deborah Faeyrglenn. The series developed from the common discussions about the themes of the exhibition during the planning sessions, and reflected long-running subjects in his work.

This series plays with words and images, directly referring to or basing words on Australian geographic icons, such as the Coorong (‘Sitting on twigs’), Broken Hill and Lake George, as well as more personal histories and paths.