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           Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Jul-Aug 2008        |
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Art Attack
Barricade: Photo expo (July, 2000) Conspiracy has become a fine art. Thanks to Howard, Reith & Co. it is now framed and hanging in the nation's galleries. Inspired by the drama played out on the docks this year, Melbourne artist Bill Hay has put together Hugger Mugger:: Docks '98 , a collection of 40 watercolours, lithographs and oil paintings portraying all the plots and politics behind and during the Patrick dispute. "The work is a response to the MUA lockout," said Hay. "What started as a few pictures turned into an obsession. I felt insulted by the lies told by the Government and Chris Corrigan. I felt I needed to do something. Australian workers had been unlawfully sacked. I could no longer be a by-stander whilst this injustice prevailed." With titles like Deceit, Scab, Reith with Lap Dog, Riot Shields at Gem Pier, In-Security, The New Right, the Old Wrong, there is no confusing which side of the picket fence Bill Hay stands on. Bill Hay is no wharfie. Nor is he a wharfie's son, grandson, husband or brother. But he was one of the 100,000 concerned citizens who marched the streets in support of the MUA in April and swelled the community assembly lines. It was the images of hooded goons and dogs, slimy politicians and slithering CEO, Chris Corrigan, that gripped the mind of the artist before taking form on canvas. Some of his smaller works have the greatest impact. The caricature of Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith nursing the bovine Chris Corrigan is one of the most striking works. The paintings are dominated by bold, disturbing, crude images - menacing balaclava clad black figures with the P&C and scab logos, wire fences, batons and riot shields, snarling rottweillers, red cranes, murky harbours and stormy skies - all powerful symbols of what must go down in history as the ugliest industrial relations war fought out in this country, this century. "My pictures were painted as a warning. Howard and Reith have called the MUA lockout 'the first wave'. Who will be next? We have to always be watchful. A country can change in an extraordinarily short time to something quite oppressive. Dogs and hooded men. These are all signs of it. You hear about this sort of thing happening in Latin American countries. It's verging on fascist stuff. Reith was completely out of line. He could have ended up in prison for what he did," said Hay. "There is no doubt that the conspiracy to lock-out the MUA was born out of the desire for increased financial profit. Sadly, moral and social considerations didn't even get a look in. How Reith and Howard can remain in Parliament, our Parliament, is beyond my belief." The Melbourne Branch has purchased a set of the nine lithographs which now hang at the Ireland Street union rooms. Hugger Mugger works are available for viewing or sale at Ray Hughes Gallery in Sydney. Interested members should contact Fiona Johnstone or Leah Haynes on (02) 9698 3200. War on the Waterfront articles
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