<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>329115</docID> <postdate>2024-09-15 08:27:59</postdate> <headline>‘Coming out’: artist puts a modern spin on the deb ball</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-329116" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/r0_0_800_600_w800_h600_fmax-e1726352821861.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p> <caption>Georgia Banks is turning the debutante concept of "coming out" to society on its head. Photo: Cementa Festival</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Stephanie Gardiner</strong></span></p> <p><strong>Next to a church service notice, a write-up of a local bowls competition and an advertisement for rabbit traps, a newspaper column breathlessly describes a country debutante ball.</strong></p> <p>"The murmur soon went round, 'here they come'," The Mudgee Guardian reported of the Kandos ball in June 1947.</p> <p>"What a lovely sight it was as the young ladies, spaced about eight yards apart, entered the hall led by the two pretty little flower girls."</p> <p>Nearly 80 years on from that chaste affair in which women made their social debut, performance artist Georgia Banks will host a debutante ball with a twist in the same central western NSW village.</p> <p>Banks will turn the tradition on its head, playing on the concept of "coming out" to society.</p> <p>The ball, part of the four-day rural contemporary arts festival Cementa, invites guests to come along with a same-sex date.</p> <p>"It's a key rite of passage in regional Australia, I'm using it in a fun way to create a safe space for queer people," Banks told AAP.</p> <p>"Deb balls are literally called coming out balls, how could I not, am I just going to leave that hanging?"</p> <p>To prepare for the ball, Banks collaborated with young people in Kandos and drew on her experience growing up in remote NSW towns like Cobar and Broken Hill.</p> <p>"I realised I was queer in regional Australia, I came out in regional Australia and I was really interested in learning what it's like for queer people in regional Australia now."</p> <p>People of all backgrounds are welcome at the dance on Friday night, with plenty of straight men and their mates expressing interest.</p> <p>"Friendships already have a level of intimacy and it's nice for people to have an opportunity to go on a date with a friend," Banks said.</p> <p>The sixth Cementa festival will feature works from more than 50 artists across performance, installation, sound, video, photography and sculpture in local spaces like community halls, churches and shops.</p> <p>Cementa was established by an artists' collective soon after the cement works in Kandos closed in 2011, as the small town pondered its future.</p> <p>Artists must visit Kandos and collaborate with locals ahead of the event, rather than use the town merely as a backdrop, festival director Alex Wisser said.</p> <p>"The artists are pulled out of their own bubbles in the city and asked to consider another place," Mr Wisser said.</p> <p>"When artists come up and do crazy and weird things, the townsfolk will let you know.</p> <p>"It's really healthy to hear those voices rather than dismissing them."</p> <p>When artist Danny Morse first visited Kandos he was drawn to the abandoned industrial ball mill, a 15-metre tube once used to crush cement.</p> <p>Morse, a 2024 Archibald finalist whose body of sculptural work explores Australian nostalgia, will create a time warp.</p> <p>Using lights and mirrors at both ends of the tube, the mill will become a portal to the future and the past.</p> <p>"I wanted to do something that wasn't coming in loud and screaming 'this is what I do'," Morse said.</p> <p>"It uses the town and talks about the town's history, accentuating it and adding to it."</p> <p><em>The Cementa Festival, Kandos, September 19-22.</em></p> </body>