Patch/work, re/pair: A braided dialogue on breakage, fires and the labours of care

All the objects donated by patch/work’s participants are added to the aluminium A-frame base structure. Passers-by are also invited to leave ‘repair stories’ on small scraps of recycled paper. Like the epicormic growth of the eucalyptus not killed by Australia’s 2020 ‘black summer’ fires, patches sprouted out from patch/work’s structure, as recognition both of harm and damage but also of new possibilities and ongoing life. In patch/work, restoration is re-storyation, creating a new narrative of entanglement and mutual ethical survival. In fire fire, the body dancing is the conduit for the flow of repair. The difficulty of adhesion between unlike objects; the care that must be taken to find the right adhesive, a bonding material that works. The energy-intensive and never-ending work of judging what deserves to be repaired and what must be disposed of. Patch/work has been collectively assembled, representing a suite of stories created ‘in company’, companioned.