First Page
Jessyca Hutchens and Matt Giles (Editors)
Love is My Velocity

****

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If you’re one of those people who sits there and whinges that Perth has nothing to offer, is boring, is dull, is a creative vacuum… then stop. Just stop, right now, because here is evidence on the contrary, proof to prove that Perth is indeed an interesting place and offers up interesting opportunities and content. First Page is testimony to the fact that Perth has shucked the Dullsville tag and adopted a funky, more edgy presence.

First Page is edited by Jessyca Hutchens from monthly narrative art performance night Cottonmouth and Matt Giles, he who brought us the totally awesome and out there Love Is My Velocity Cookbook. First Page is a continuation of the Velocity idea: to produce a body of work which deals with the cross-pollination of artistic expression and showcases specifically West Australian talent. Oh, and what talent First Page contains!

Here 22 writers and artists have been asked to produce a work which marries image with text. The results range the entire gamut thanks to a list of contributors which includes the likes of illustrations IT boy Sean Morris, sculptor Joshua Webb, musician Josh Fontaine, fashion designer Carly Hunter and zinester Tristan Fidler. The overall impact from this mob is impressive: they present work which is crisp, innovative and at times genuinely sublime.

Highlights, however, go to the girls. Editor Jessyca Hutchens’ Microscopic Fictions is simply amazing. She moves from the autobiographical to the scientific then fictional with a grace which ambles between poised and gawky. Her candidness is a riot, and her illustrations (like that on the front cover) magnificent. Clea Tibbs Johansson’s On Eating Sorrow is a beautifully crafted story, one which is dark and majestic but in an understated way. Then of course there’s Water Library by Rebecca Giggs. Put simply? Breathtaking.

There are moments of awkwardness. Fontaine clunks more than funks with his protractedness while Webb is a little too distant, although his art is rather stunning. Anne Barnetson also misses the mark a little, which is a shame since other artists like Esther Sandler and Jessica Horrocks seem to deliver a perfect lilt of story while saying the minimalist of things.

Overall though, First Page is first class. Hutchens and Giles have brought together 22 wonderful talents whose work simply simmers and shines. But unlike a mirage in the stinking dead heat of a barren city, First Page is rather a real, solid testament to the skill and ability of those who call this far flung city home.