VIVIENNE DADOUR
Journey: Syrian Mary - Make No Delay
Single channel video, 5 mins, travelling trunk 2021, Installation - Mount Victoria Manor
Journey: Syrian Mary-Make No Delay was filmed on location in Dark Corner, NSW, as a moving contemplation about the extraordinary life of my ancestor, Syrian Mary. This film reflects on Syrian Mary’s lonely journey, migrating in 1886 from Syria/Lebanon to Australia, where she found work as a haberdashery hawker on foot, through bush tracts, to isolated farms in the Lithgow, Bathurst, and Mudgee Shires. The culture, tradition, and customs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries relegated rural hawkers like Syrian Mary to the dark (unseen) corners of our past. Various forms of official and social discrimination at this time made it difficult for immigrants to find employment in the industries dominated by the Anglo-Celtic labouring classes. The only option open for many immigrants was to work as hawkers by foot (license permitting) in suburban and rural areas.
Vivienne Dadour MFA (COFA UNSW) is an Australian contemporary artist of Lebanese heritage living in the Blue Mountains. Vivienne is an experienced professional exhibiting artist, researcher, curator and lecturer. Her artistic practice is deeply committed to the social relevance of art, concerning issues of cultural diversity and the politics of identity. These issues have conceptualised Vivienne’s past and current research-based art projects which have been selected for exhibition in Penrith Regional Gallery, Woodford Academy Blue Mountains, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Australian War Memorial Museum Canberra, New England Regional Art Gallery, Armidale, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, NSW Parliament House Sydney, Articulate Project Space Sydney, The Cross Art Projects Sydney and Ivan Dougherty Gallery UNSW. Vivienne is currently the recipient of a Create NSW Small Project Grant for her project As Far As Kandos: Syrian Mary-Make No Delay, to be shown at the Kandos Museum as part of Cementa 22 Regional Arts Festival.
