Item MM 153339 Poster - Isol-Aid Online Music Festival, Edition 17, Designed by Sebastian White, 12 Jul 2020

Summary

Isol-Aid online music festival poster design 'LET"S PA1N7 THE TOWN' by artist and graphic designer Sebastian White. This design is the 'Colour by Numbers Edition', featuring a partially filled colouring-in design of a parkscape. Toilet paper rolls are hanging from the tree, a picnic rug and laptop computer are laid out on the grass, and marker pens in yellow, brown and blue surround the composition.

Physical Description

Full colour digital poster.

Significance

The Isol-Aid poster collection is a visual representation of innovative music festival Isol-Aid, founded and based in Melbourne in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolded in 2020, and its impact on the local music community. These posters provide a rich historical document of contemporary practicing performing artists, many of whom are Victorian based, at this moment in time. The designs also include visual representations of items related to daily life during pandemic restrictions. From an artistic perspective, the designs are highly effective, vibrant with meaningful composition, carrying rich potential for interpretation now, and into the future.

Artist Sebastian White has developed a recognisable visual style for the festival, drawing on a nostalgic packaging design aesthetic, which is evident across the vast array of posters created through 2020. White's designs respond to the impact of the pandemic on daily life with poignancy and humour, creating a new topical visual concept each week. Designs have included references to panic buying, essential grocery items, take away food, sanitisation products, home hair dye, parcel delivery, colouring in, gardening, home exercise, jigsaws, mask wearing and Victoria's Stage 4 restrictions on movement.

Isol-Aid Festival founder, director and programmer Emily Ulman, is a musician, educator, festival curator and music booker, based in Melbourne. The festival was conceived in response to the impact of pandemic restrictions on the Australian music community. The cancelling of events and closure of music venues due to social distancing requirements implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Australia, had a devastating financial and social impact on the Victorian music community. Performing artists and music workers lost income and career opportunities through the cancellation of performance bookings, national and international tours, recording studio bookings and residencies.

The festival arose initially to raise funds for Support Act, "Australia's only not-for-profit organisation to provide relief for musicians and music industry workers facing physical or mental health issues, or financial hardship", and to connect artists and audiences through an online performance experience.

Melbourne is recognised as the live music capital of the world (ABC: Melbourne Live Music Census 2017), and the local music community is valued for the significant cultural, social and economic contribution it makes to the state of Victoria. These posters, as representations of the festival, are an expression of the music community's response to issues affecting the livelihood and mental health of artists during the pandemic.