Archive (Objects, Ideas, & Memories)

an Archive of the Objects, Ideas, and Memories that Made Me Fall in Love with Australian Design as an International Student & Hopefully a Citizen of Melbourne

by Iggy Licup

Coming into Melbourne, I had absolutely no clue whether the degree I was about to undertake would help me in anyway to pursue a well established career path. Was this a rogue attempt to escape the clutches of being Under His & Her Eye (mum and dad)? Was I merely being swept along the current of societal expectations because Architecture at the University of Melbourne “opens up a lot of doors”? Was the prospect of experiencing first-hand a new city, a new culture, & a new people more alluring than quality overseas education? It was a plethora of questions, that after weeks of adjusting into the city, still had no conclusive and satisfyng answers. As expected.

Fast-forward to 4 years later: I’ve graduated, we’re in the middle of a global health crisis, Melbourne is in its fifth lockdown, and somehow these questions still persist like the neighbour who for the past month has been working on that new mixtape we should definitely watch out for. Except only this time new and more imminent ones have entered the arena. Will I be able to get a job? If my friends managed to snatch one within a month of us graduating surely I can do the same? Will Home Affairs kick me out if I can’t find one soon?

These thoughts and feelings have hence led me to apply for the Rhonda Alexander Mentorship program. This document is not an exercise of “what I can prove to Flack” but rather “what I have grown to admire in the city of Melbourne” in hopes of these things aligning with the values of your studio.

My iPhone lens, focuses itself on the objects, ideas, and memories capturing how I have fallen in love with the world of Australian Design.

Note to self: this document should not be composed of crafted images taken with intention but instead a scrapbook of moments that allows me to authentically reminisce on creative and artistic attitudes that I resonate with.

A journal, not an essay.

Yellow Peril 18th December, 2020 8:37 p.m.

Degraves St., CBD 23rd June 3:21 p.m.

Artist: Some Random Melburnian “Miscellaneous objects on concrete pavement against the Yellow Peril” c. 2020

Its a poster of a 30% sale at David Jones of that local band playing at that local pub of a Climate Action protest of an exhibition by that local gallery of a (WORK IN PROGRESS) Palimpsest

Human Imprint (within the Urban)

In contrast to how the corporate empire tends to announce itself through skyscrapers and billboards, there is something to be said with how mankind is intimately revealed within the urban context. More often than not it is at a scale that can be only appreciated by the individual, and then some. It is through the ‘found,’ the archaeology of person who planted artefact with which one begins to treasure the recurring thumbprint of man in the city. What I began to admire about Melbourne is its deep fondness of its own locality.

There is an undoubted sense of local pride that exists among its residents. It is arguably almost an act of primal instinct for Melburnians to exist solely through graffiti riddled laneways and artisanal coffee that is just beyond the threshold of overpriced. For better or for worse, it nevertheless sustains a very distinct identity of Melbourne as a city and as a people. Which is precisely what I love about Melbourne: its necessity of character. In particular, the necessity of character in an increasingly characterless society. The human imprint within the urban.

Collingwood 3rd July 3:00 p.m.

Southbank 3rd July 3:48 p.m.

“A person with a clear heart and open mind can experience the wilderness anywhere on earth. It is a quality of one’s own consciousness. The planet is a wild place and will always be.” ― Gary Snyder

Aside from an electric box, I’m not quite certain what’s behind these doors, but it is interesting to see something of no consequence to the everyman, becomes a thing which has. Amongst the rest of its peers, this anomalous electric box assaulted with stickers upon stickers upon stickers upon stickers relegates itself, not without the touch of man, Southbank’s Melboure Central Clock. Grip the wall!

Respect to Heritage

Heritage comes from the Old French word iritage meaning ‘that which may be inherited.’

Something distinctly Melburnian, and I suppose distinctly Australian, is the cooperative attempt as a country to acknowledge historical facets of place in a manner that is both an act of veneration and remembrance. In the fields of arts, design, and architecture, I’ve found that this idea delicately manifests itself in more ways than one, whether it be to pay respects to the Indigenous community or referencing past architectural styles. What I find interesting, in a similar vein to human imprint, is that the tribute to heritage is genetically embedded in the DNA of Melbourne’s artistic sphere. There is no greater purpose. There is no institutional dogma for creatives to want to tribute; other than this natural desire to do so.

This compulsion for the past can even be observed in the people’s fixation on the vintage, the object which belonged to another and is now mine. Ultimately, one of the questions that I believe can help distill these thoughts is How can the present conditions accomodate for the past?

South Melbourne 24th June 4:05 p.m.

CBD 20th June 1:33 p.m.

c/o @peterdrewarts: Who is an Aussie?

What does an Aussie look like? How is an Aussie Australian? Where does an Aussie become Australian? When does an Aussie begin to become Australian? These are just some of the questions that Peter Drew beckons us to answer as he tackles issues of the Australian ‘Other’ within colonised spaces.

How thrilling it is to see a gutter the size of my first apartment so ceremoniously perched on top of this building’s facade!

Shrine of Remembrance 28th April 4:19 p.m.

Oxford St., Collingwood 3rd July 2:55 p.m.

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”

― Chinua Achebe (Author)

I was picking up a plant from Facebook Marketplace by someone’s apartment complex, and without looking like a creep I simply had to take a photo of the foyer. This could not better exemplify the potential of infill to further improve the conditions of historical architecture.

Royal Park, Parkville 1st November, 2020 6:32 p.m.

Carlton Gardens 20th December, 2020 10:26 p.m.

Taken after last year’s lockdown. Having not seen these faces in person for half a year, don’t think I could take faces that aren’t stuck in a screen for granted again.

Celebrating a mate’s birthday. Nothing else much to it other than a bit of a boogie outdoors and just a straight up good time!

My Place 1st January, 12:14 a.m.

Zoom 14th June, 12:45 a.m.

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” ― T.S. Eliot

This was the night when my circle of friends finished our final capstone studio. This was also in the middle of the unfortunate lockdown 4.0, however I found that nothing that night could’ve hampered the greater cause for celebration.

Mateship*

Throughout my residency in Melbourne, I can think of nothing more influential, nothing more governing to my maturing love for design than the friends that I have made. They say you are the average of the 5 people you most hang around with, this could not be any truer, however in my case it is more like 8-10. Much needn’t be said regarding this topic, as nothing is quite as universally understood as the realisation of you becoming a mosaic of your circle’s thoughts, behaviours, & attitudes.

*Friends censored for the purposes of privacy

*Friends censored for the purposes of privacy

Iggy Licup (IG: @iggylicup_) Age: 20 Education: Bachelor of Design (Major in Architecture) at the University of Melbourne Employment Status: Unemployed & currently searching

I feel as though coming into this application with the objective that I have something to prove reduces my experiences with design as a mere commodity to the industry, and I am certain they are worth more than that. May it be as inspiration or for storytelling, I hope these vignettes of my life in Melbourne provide some evidence that I can be of service in enriching the Australian Art & Architecture scene. What I would truly want out of this Mentorhsip program is a tangible pathway into it, and hopefully Flack Studio can invest their time and energy towards an aspiring creative such as myself.