By transforming a razed demolition site in the east end of Fremantle, Field of the Unwanted was an unconventional garden which called attention to the unwelcome and undesirable.

Presented by Spaced and DADAA in collaboration with St Patrick’s Community Support Centre, Field of the Unwanted used weeds or “plants that grow where they are not wanted” to question the hierarchies of value and displacement experienced by members of our own communities.

Field of the Unwanted elevated the status of weeds by planting them into an ordered garden that created a home for the unwanted. A weed rescue and resettlement service led by the project artists, collected weeds from Fremantle, surrounding suburbs and private residences, relocating them to a cultivated vacant lot on Queen Victoria Street, Fremantle. Acting as custodians of the various weed plots, the artists and the surrounding community spent countless hours – most in the heat of summer – to grow and create an emerging installation and garden, encompassing over 30 unique weed species.

Open garden events were held with local residents and the public invited to join the custodians as they harvested and unpacked the uses (and non-uses) of the Field’s cultivated weed varieties. Drawing parallels with how we have come to classify and value people differently in society, the project sparked conversation around our social inclusivity and give those who might have been excluded or marginalised an opportunity to own a patch of public space.

Field of the Unwanted was part of the ongoing contemporary art project Know Thy Neighbour. This project is a series of temporary public art projects presented by International Art Space (IAS). This series, Know Thy Neighbour #2 saw Western Australian artists invited to develop and present projects in response to their own neighbourhoods – exploring the form, function and community of Perth’s diverse residential sprawl.

Responding to their own locales in new and unexpected ways, these artists presented a series of public interventions, actions and events across 2018 and 2019 that engaged with, tested, and challenged our public spaces, streetscapes and infrastructure.

Read more about Know Thy Neighbour