Save the dates

July 24 - 26 ( 3 days only )

Exhibition: Borderlands V2— Phillip George
Presented by: djprojects
Venue: St Saviour’s Church of Exiles, 6 Oxford Street, Collingwood
Program: Exhibition with accompanying panel discussion on cross-cultural dialogue and contemporary issues.

A major presentation of Borderlands V2, the landmark project by artist Dr Phillip George, will be presented by djprojects at St Saviour’s Church in Collingwood. This special three-day exhibition revisits the influential body of work that examines the cultural, political and symbolic intersections between East and West, while introducing several new works created specifically for this presentation.

Borderlands emerged from more than two decades of George’s research and travel throughout Western Asia and Asia Minor. A pivotal moment in the development of the project occurred after the artist encountered The Arts of Islam – Treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili Collection at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2007. Reflecting on the exhibition, collector Nasser D. Khalili wrote that “there is much more that unites people than divides them, and that an appreciation of art is a fundamental unifying factor.” The sentiment resonated deeply with George and helped shape the conceptual direction of the project.

The artist’s challenge became how to move the extraordinary visual language of Islamic art from the rarefied context of the museum into the everyday landscape of Australian culture. George’s response was to employ one of Australia’s most recognisable vernacular objects — the surfboard — transforming it into a platform for cultural dialogue.

In the Borderlands works, surfboards, emblematic of Australian coastal identity, are overlaid with intricate Islamic geometric and architectural motifs derived from mosques and historic sites across Western Asia. The gesture brings two cultural languages into direct conversation: for many Australian viewers the surfboard is immediately familiar, but the visual language applied to it is not; for Islamic audiences the geometric ornamentation is recognisable while the surfboard itself is unexpected. Through this deliberate exchange of symbols, George invites viewers to reconsider assumptions about identity, belonging and cultural difference.

Borderlands transforms a symbol of Australian beach culture into a site of reflection, empathy and dialogue. Over time, the project has taken on renewed relevance as global debates around migration, nationalism and cultural identity continue to intensify.

For the Collingwood presentation, George has produced several new works that extend the original ideas of the project and respond to the contemporary global climate. Installed within the atmospheric setting of St Saviour’s Church of Exiles, the exhibition creates a contemplative environment in which audiences are invited to consider how symbols of identity, belief and belonging might intersect rather than collide.

Alongside the exhibition, a public panel discussion will bring together speakers from the arts, academia and community sectors to reflect on the historical context that informed Borderlands and its continuing resonance today. The conversation will explore themes of migration, cultural misunderstanding, nationalism and the role of artists in shaping dialogue across cultural divides.

Years after it was first conceived, Borderlands remains strikingly resonant. At a time when geopolitical tensions and cultural polarisation dominate public discourse, George’s work proposes another possibility: that shared cultural and imaginative spaces can still be created.

The surfboards are art works they will never be used as surfboards; no feet will ever touch the deck of the art works.

This presentation by djprojects offers audiences a rare opportunity to encounter the original works alongside newly developed pieces, situating Borderlands within both its historical moment and the urgent conversations of the present.