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How to turn a ship around (They could say love) is a script and performance developed with Sam George in and from conversation with Danielle O’Brien (a Webb dock-sitter) and Josh Bornstein (lawyer at Maurice Blackburn who developed a legal strategy for the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA)) in reference to the 1998 Union dispute. Chloe Martin and Tref Gare performed this 8 minute 8 second script over 2 hours on 6 days during the exhibition State of the Union curated by Jacqueline Doughty at The Ian Potter Museum of Art.

The Columbus Canada IMO 7800162 is a container ship that was prevented from docking by community action groups in Los Angeles. In May 1998, these action groups successfully stopped non-union loaded cargo on the Columbus Canada from being unloaded, and forced its repatriation to either Australia or New Zealand. This community action was not directed by the MUA but was a voluntary act of conscience by residents and workers to defend unionism and working conditions (http://www.takver.com/wharfie/may98.htm).

The script refers to the actions of the union members and their families but also those that sat beside them. Some literally, such as Food not Bombs, students, political collectives, etc. Including Danielle O’Brien herself, who had recently moved from Adelaide after completing her MA. Influenced by the social and political actions of artists such as Ian Burn, Danielle sat at Webb dock in solidarity collecting signatures from the stevedores and their family members with the intention of making a quilt. The quilt never eventuated. The work Furniture Painting (Danielle's MUA) is a painting referent sitting beside the readymade quilt remnant belonging to Danielle — the ghost and its machine.

They could say love riffs-off the history of abstraction by arranging a collection of flags from the international signal code for shipping which could only be read by the sailors (workers) and teachers of the code from a painting made by Lisa and Sam reading We can say love. The past-tense phrasing renders this new work both a celebration of what was achieved by the MUA in 1998, but is also a lament to unionism and solidarity of this time.

Sam George and Lisa Radford How to turn a ship around (They could say love) 2018 performance, 8 minutes 8 seconds, looped, white sail, printed ticker tape, brass Zulu flag. Performed by Chloe Martin and Tref Gare with dramaturgy assistance from Rinske Ginsberg

Sam George and Lisa Radford How to turn a ship around (They could say love), 2018, performance, 8 minutes 8 seconds, looped, white sail, printed ticker tape, brass Zulu flag. Performed by Chloe Martin and Tref Gare with dramaturgy assistance from Rinske Ginsberg

Lisa Radford, Furniture Paintings (Danielle’s MUA), 1998-2015, acrylic on wood, tarp, plastic bags, glass, frame.

International Signal code (How to turn a ship around) 2018, Screen print on cotton, 1200 x 1200mm

Paralleling How to turn a ship around (We can say love) at the Ian Potter Museum, this work was commissioned by Bus Projects for their fundraiser with support of Stewart Russell, Spacecraft. One of the flags was raised as part of the ‘Top of the World’ series hosted by Wardell Architecture above both the gallery and spacecraft studio.

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Lisa Radford, Furniture Paintings (Danielle’s MUA), 1998-2015, acrylic on wood, tarp, plastic bags, glass, frame.

International Signal code (How to turn a ship around) 2018, Screen print on cotton, 1200 x 1200mm