When I was asked to write about Arts Project Australia’s survey show at TarraWarra Museum of Art, Intimate Imaginaries, the term “outsider art” popped unbidden into my mind. As a term it is truly unwanted here, and indeed anywhere in contemporary art discourse.
Despite its origins, in the book of the same name by Roger Cardinal, for use in describing art that emerges outside of the official culture of the art school and gallery system, there is something exclusive about this designation. But let us name it to tame it.
