Chira Grasby, City of Churches zine, with handmade paper by Sally Parnis. Photograph Lana Adams.
City of Churches
By Chira Grasby, ART WORKS Early Career Curator + Writer in Residence 2023
As part of her residency as the 2023 Guildhouse ART WORKS Early Career Curator and Writer in Residence Chira Grasby has created the zine City of Churches, a written response to Adelaide’s title as “The City of Churches”.
In creation of the zine Chira collaborated with ART WORKS Artist in Residence Sally Parnis. During her residency in the City of Adelaide ArtPOD, Sally began to make handmade paper using discarded office paper as a way to print digital drawings without “creating more stuff in an overcrowded world“. The recycled handmade paper forms unique front and back covers for each zine, featuring momentos of discarded rubbish found within the City of Adelaide collected by Sally during her residency.
The Early Career Curator and Writer in Residence role facilitates broad cultural engagement and audience development through a program of artist in residence, exhibitions and public programs, supported through embedded professional mentoring.
Delivered by Guildhouse in partnership with the City of Adelaide, ART WORKS is a collaborative program of residencies, curatorial mentorship and creative engagements, designed to provide a city-based platform for artists, curators and writers to pursue new ways of working and engaging with audiences.
Image: Chira Grasby, image courtesy the artist
Chira Grasby
Chiranjika (Chira) Grasby is an Adelaide based emerging artist, curator, and tattoo artist. She completed a Bachelor of Visual Art at Central School of Art in 2019 focusing on oil painting and miniature portraiture. During her studies she also completed an internship through Flinders University Art Museum exploring the archiving and storage of gallery collections, and was involved in Carclew’s 2019 Emerging Curator program.
Her practice spans across painting, illustration, ceramics, textiles, and installation. She’s interested in topics of connection, particularly that of herself and her cultural heritage, but also the relationships between herself and others. Often this involves the incorporation of autobiographical iconography and symbolism, with nods to personal narrative as well as the outward influence of pop culture and her childhood.
Chiranjika has exhibited at Sister, Nexus Arts, Brunswick Street Gallery, Urban Cow Studios, Newmarch Gallery, Good Bank Gallery, and curated across Adelaide Town Hall, Urban Cow Studios, Nexus Arts, Collective Haunt, and FELTspace ARI. She was recipient of a Deep Dive Residency at Post Office Projects in 2021, and Artist in Residence for Nexus Arts in 2022. She is also part of Index Adelaide, an initiative that focuses on the Zine community in South Australia, and co-owns Halfpace Studio, an inclusive tattoo space and residency site.
