With her vibrant and vivacious aesthetic, Martina Calvi‘s animated works are hard to miss, especially when she’s been creating for clients from fashion giant ASOS to ARIA Award-winning singer Nicole Millar.
Martina’s latest venture sees her team up with two fellow Sydneysiders, Gianna Hayes and Kit Soo, who share her passion for the arts. Together, they’ve created the SYNSOC collective, and are holding their debut exhibition Illustrated Rights tonight at Goodspace Gallery in Sydney. As the name suggests, the works will focus on women’s rights with contributions from across the globe.
Ahead of tonight’s jam, we chatted to Martina about the art, the message, and how you can help:
Tell us about SYNSOC – what is it and what prompted you to start this idea?
Gianna, Kit and I started SYNSOC as a way to collaborate and produce work with other creatives. So many creatives want to collaborate with new people but feel they need a ‘reason’ to reach out. SYNSOC pushes new projects, exhibitions and cross-disciplinary collaborations, giving them the opportunity to work positively with new people, and ultimately push their work further than they ever have.
Women’s rights have always been a focus in your work, but it seems to be reaching a crescendo with the ‘Illustrated Rights’ exhibition tonight. Why now?
It was definitely Trump’s election and the Women’s Marches from around the world that got me fired up and wanting to do more. Each of us at SYNSOC were so inspired by the solidarity and passion other women have shown while our rights are being threatened, and decided we need to do much, much more.
I guess there is a tendency for people to believe that the creative worlds are more open-minded and less prone to sexism, but we are still seeing a lack of women on music festival line-ups and so forth. What are your experiences with regards to your own career?
There have been little ‘off’ comments and uncomfortable moments throughout my career, for sure, but I think overall I’ve been very lucky with my experiences in the creative industry. I’ve surrounded myself with a very positive community of likeminded people. That being said, I do acknowledge that being a cis white woman in the creative industry affords me privileges that other women might not have.
What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions about the women’s rights movement, and how do you hope that this exhibition will change that?
The biggest misconception is that the Women’s Rights Movement is only for women to be involved in. Women’s rights are human rights. We should all be fighting! This exhibition attempts to change that notion by exhibiting artists who don’t identify as female as well. We hope to see men at the exhibition, we hope to see men fighting for our rights. This is for all of us.
Tell us about some of the artists that will be exhibiting tonight. How did you get them involved and what was the selection criteria?
I’m particularly excited about Art Baby from New York, Tea Rose Wright and Anaka from Philadelphia. We wanted everyone’s voices to be heard, so our only criteria for the works submitted was that they contain a feminist message that is both trans-inclusive and intersectional.
All proceeds from the exhibition will be going to Planned Parenthood. Why did you choose this cause and what other ways can people help?
Planned Parenthood are a non profit cause who have always been passionate advocates for women’s reproductive rights, as well as providing essential and affordable health care services. These services are currently being threatened, so we felt it was more important than ever to donate. Bring cash to purchase work tonight or just make a donation! Other ways you can help are by donating to these organisations directly: Planned Parenthood and Sydney Period Project.
What’s on the cards for Martina and SYNSOC in 2017?
This is definitely only the beginning! We have another event in the works for SYNSOC and dozens more collaborative projects. For me, 2017 is the year for making my work more heavily focused on making a difference.
