MALL-CONTENTS

PINK EMBER STUDIO

Pink Ember Studio is a queer-run co-operative, creating spaces for artists to make and sell work and be part of a community. Aoife Billings, one of the co-founders, set aside some time to talk to the Coburg Meddler.

CM: How did Pink Ember come about?
AB: We were all in a studio together in Brunswick. We knew of each other through that. But then one fateful day me and Aaron [Billings] were on the tram and started talking to Frances [Cannon] about our plans to get our own studio space. Frances got really enthusiastic and said we should all set up a queer-studio space. We put a call out on social media for people to get involved and Gemma [Flack], who Aaron knew, absolute angel, came onboard. Setting up a safe-space for us all was a really incredible experience.

When you all get excited about something, things start to happen. We learnt a lot very quickly. I think we went in fairly naively in the sense that we didn’t have the details worked out. It started as a studio space and a place to do workshops, as that was mine and Aaron’s main business before starting the space, but then we noticed that we had a lot of foot traffic, so we decided to turn it into a shop as well.

We’ve also received a lot of support from Arts Moreland. They’re a group of people who care about art and supporting local artists. So, when we started up they were very keen to help us out with grants and any questions we had.

CM: When you received grants from Arts Moreland, were there any restraints on your creative projects?
AB: No, they’ve been very supportive. We haven’t felt censored or like we need to run anything past them. I would say that we have a wholesome vibe, anyway. Lots of wholesome queers gravitate towards our space.

CM: How have you found Coburg? Are you getting much support from the locals?
AB: The majority of people coming into the store are locals. We get a lot of people saying that they are really excited to have us here. I think it’s because the building we’re in was vacant for a long time.

I mean, we’re aware that there were a couple of complaints about paintings depicting naked bodies that have been made, but other than that things have been fine.

I can’t describe how much I love Coburg. It’s not like other suburbs I’ve spent time in. You can tell that people here really value community. Along O’Hea St, you can see all of the baskets of food that people are leaving out for others, and the people sitting in their front yard are always keen to wave and smile. I love the community here.

CM: How have you been weathering the pandemic?
AB: It’s been challenging, like it has been for everyone. But Arts Moreland has been really supportive. We were also lucky, because our landlord halved the rent during the last lockdown, which we passed on to the artists renting space.

This lockdown has been a bit harder and we haven’t been able to get much rent relief, so we’ve had to ask for some donations from the community, and people have been very supportive.

CM: Anything you’d like the readers to know about?
AB: Get involved! We prioritse queer, POC, locals by offering for them to rent monthly studio spaces or run workshops. We’re really glad that a lot of the artists that are in the space are locals.