Skating through time is my graduating project that I undertook during my final year of my Bachelor of Arts degree at Victoria University. I majored in Visual art and Writing, and I decided to incorporate both of these disciplines into my project. My project consists of a series of three artworks that focus on self-expression and identity using skateboards as the canvas as well as other materials. The artworks represent different stages of my life in chronological order and are named accordingly. The barbed wire on the first two works represents the time I felt trapped and restricted with my identity and the photos and different visuals on the boards represent me becoming more confident and comfortable in my identity and sexuality over time. I have also written three non-fiction writing pieces that coincide with each artwork and explain both my mindset as well as memories in each stage.
My project took 4 months to complete. I started planning my project in early May 2022 and I completed my project in August 2022.
I presented my project at an exhibition held on open day at the Footscray Park campus at Victoria University. Over 5000 people were registered for open day so it was a great opportunity for me to showcase my work. I made a poster advertising the exhibition that includes a QR code of the blog where the writing pieces are published. The blog also has progress photos of the artworks as I thought it would be interesting for people to see how the works were made and put together.
Exhibition photos
My project has helped me immensely with my personal development. It has helped me to develop both my writing and artistic skills as well as my overall creativity. I have also become a better problem solver by working on my project. There were many times where I had to come up with solutions when certain ideas I had weren’t working or things were just going wrong. In the process I became more adaptable, and I was calm and calculated in my approach to solving problems.
Max Muscat is extremely passionate about the creative arts industry and has keen interests in drawing, writing, reading, and photography. She identifies as a lesbian and loves to incorporate her queer experiences in her writing as well as her art. In her spare time she also enjoys skateboarding and she plans to turn her last artwork, 'Moving to the city', into a complete skateboard as part of her project.
Acknowledgments: Photographs courtesy of Sue Dodd. Major thanks to Sue for also assisting in finding an exhibition space and special thanks to my partner CJ for assisting me with my project throughout the entire process at home.