My country

In 1977, David McDiarmid held a solo exhibition at Sydney's Hogarth Galleries titled Australian Dream Lounge, which celebrated the camp retro style of suburban Australian interiors. McDiarmid created an immersive 'lounge room' environment for the show, replete with customised found furniture. The walls featured artworks made from vinyl, plastic, lino and fake fur, including 'My country': a map of Australia incorporating a postcard of Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach. Originally installed alongside other objects such as a flying duck, a turtle and a guitar, 'My country' nods to tourist art, celebrating the kitsch reality that underscores the utopian dream of suburban living. McDiarmid later explained: "I’m interested in popular culture…I use loud, cheap and vulgar plastics to make ‘pretty’ pictures – pieces of wall decoration. Good taste can be a prison" [1].

1. McDiarmid quoted in The Autralian Experience: Elements of Change, Crafts Council of Australia, Sydney, 1982; cited by Sally Gray in When This You See Remember Me, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2014, p12.