Vitamin was created by Shaw Hendry in 2004 as a publishing venue for
South Australian art and arts writing. Vitamin contains images and articles
by emerging and mid-career South Australian artists,
as well as by other participants in local visual culture.
On April 23, 2010 Shaw Hendry died after a long battle with cancer.
Before he passed, Shaw invited Sera Waters and Polly Dance to work together as Guest Editors on Vitamin – The Redux. With editorial assistance from Olga Sankey and Pamela Zeplin, and design by Dianne Longley, The Redux was published in November 2010, and launched at Gray Street Workshops alongside Vitamin Flowers exhibition.
Editorial – What we think about when we talk about Vitamin
A small team have worked together to bring you Vitamin – The Redux, an episode envisioned and
begun by editor Shaw Hendry in 2008. This is the final episode of Vitamin before this humble photocopied zine becomes history; something that was. Vitamin, through the time and dedication of each and every contributor, has done something important for South Australian visual culture; it has claimed a place where our local writings, our makings our artworld have been given a voice. Shaw’s vision of inclusivity will always remain in his editorials, the pages of Vitamin and in the spirit of this project.
So even though The Redux brings Vitamin to a close, fear not fellow Vitamin reader, after you have devoured this a sweet lingering aftertaste remains. While The Redux collates the last of your generous contributions; writings, artist pages, and insert artwork, Shaw ensured that Vitamin will continue to boost your art health (and spirit). All thirteen episodes, the Index, and this very special episode will remain downloadable online at www.vitaminarchive.com where you can also enjoy the freshly picked Vitamin Flowers exhibition. This group exhibition, curated by Dianne Longley, showcases the art of South Australian artists made to celebrate Shaw’s happy and emblematic Vitamin daisy. As well, Shaw’s predilection for merchandising and his continual gifting of lovingly- made Vitamin t-shirts, mugs, badges, multi-coloured pencils, and other Vitamin memorabilia (in your collection, or soon to be) will continue to exude sweetness into your day.
Vitamin will remain a repository of small but powerful truths. The articles throughout this Redux edition are evidence of the effects of Shaw’s insights and the Vitamin ethos. Keep these Vitamin-isms close at hand (perhaps in your new Vitamin Collection bag):
- Never be afraid to speak in your own voice about something for which you care.
- The South Australian art world is important and its participants are not to be underestimated. Vitamin was created because Shaw observed that “the rest of the world was already doing the rest of the world but South Australia wasn’t even doing South Australia properly!” Vitamin was never short on talent, contributions and content, all derived from South Australia.
- People’s interactions are the substance of our art world: interact with those who fulfill your art needs.
- People who fare better than others are those willing to get involved.
- Amazingly, the feeling of being cut out and disenfranchised at one time or another is a shared experience in the arts.
The closure of Vitamin undoubtedly leaves a gap within our local visual culture; it also offers a space for us to fill.
Thank you Shaw and all those who contributed to Vitamin. A good time was had by all…
Polly Dance and Sera Waters