Chips Mackinolty

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Chips Mackinolty (born 1954, Morwell, Victoria, Australia)[1] was involved in the campaigns against the war in Vietnam by producing posters. He was a key figure in the radical poster movement and was introduced to screenprinting in Goulburn Street, Sydney.

Early life

During the 1970s posters became an art form artists using the cheap posters as a political tool. The Earthworks Poster Collective, established in 1971, was the most active and well-known of these groups.[2] Earthworks operated from the Sydney University Art Workshop, commonly known as the Tin Sheds, finally demolished in 2007.[3] Mackinolty used sharp, flat colours and increasingly professional techniques to produce posters such as "For the man who said life wasn't meant to be easy - make life impossible". The poster is a multi-imaged send-up of former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was posted up at night around Sydney, helping to politicise a generation.

Public service roles

With the dissolution of Earthworks Poster Collective in 1980, Mackinolty moved first to Townsville, North Queensland, as a community arts officer, and then to the Northern Territory of Australia. He worked as an art adviser to Aboriginal art centres in Katherine (Mimi Aboriginal Arts and Crafts, 1981–1985) and Mutitjulu (Maruku Arts, 1985). From then until 1990 he worked at the Northern Land Council in Darwin as a journalist, designer and field officer. He produced a number of posters in that period under the name Jalak Graphics, although most were printed at Redback Graphics in Wollongong and Sydney. Many used Aboriginal languages in their text.

During the 1990s Mackinolty worked with others from Darwin under the banner of Green Ant Research Arts and Publishing. Mackinolty also accepted assignments from the CLP government including the euthanasia education program. He also acted as a go-between, liaising between the CLP government and the Jawoyn traditional owners of Katherine.

Journalist

As well as graphic design, Mackinolty worked as a correspondent for newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian and The Bulletin. It has also been claimed that Mackinolty has been an occasional anonymous correspondent for Crikey.

Exhibitions

Work in this period included a controversial exhibition of posters with colleague Therese Ritchie If you see this exhibition you'll know we have been murdered which was attacked by the then Country Liberal Party government (1998). Mackinolty was employed as an advisor to the Northern Territory Labor Government 2002-2009, under various minsters, then quit to work for the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) as a policy worker. In 2010, along with Therese Ritchie, he held a retrospective at Charles Darwin University, Not Dead Yet. In the same year he won the 4th Togart Award for Contemporary Visual Art and the Fremantle Print Award.[4] He continues to exhibit art in the Northern Territory and interstate.

References

  1. ↑ "MACKINOLTY, Chips". 
  2. ↑ "the deletions: April 2006". Thedeletions.blogspot.com. 2004-02-23. Retrieved 2012-07-15. 
  3. ↑ "The Hothouse: art and politics at the Tin Sheds - Hindsight - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 2007-06-24. Retrieved 2012-07-15. 
  4. ↑ Print Matters 30 Years of the Shell Fremantle Print Award by Holly Story et al 2005 FAC ISBN 0-9757307-1-1

External links

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