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As Louisa Dawson tells the story of how her work Temporary displacement, 2005, came into being, the appropriateness of its title soon becomes apparent. Dawson created this garbage-skip-swimming-pool sculpture in Dresden, Germany, while studying as a guest student under artist Eberhard Bosslet. In Dresden, Dawson experienced her own 'temporary displacement', facing the challenge of learning German and being plunged into a city that was still, as she puts it, 'renovating to the west'. The contradictions between a pre- and post-Wall existence were visible everywhere, in what the artists calls the 'bad Band-Aids' of colourful slaps of paint on run-down modernist apartments, and in the apartment interiors where everything is still identical, right down to the kitchen appliances. This tension is articulated by the grittiness of the garbage skip's exterior paired with the luxurious, swimming-tile inside surface. The newfound luxuries of travel, mobility and leisure feel tenuous and uncomfortable.

Dawson was surprised when she discovered children swimming in the pool, and learnt that while she was away, Temporary displacement had been placed in an exhibition in Dresden without her permission. 'It was the foundry guy, he hated my guts ... he said [the work] was his, because it was his container, and I said it was my art ... so I got him another bloody rubbish container.' Temporary displacement was then transported to Australia, where it was shown at the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award in Melbourne, and Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, both in 2005. 

As with many of Dawson's sculptures, this work is endowed with a flexibility of meaning as it is moved from location to location; the work and its sites forming new dialogues and presenting fresh problems. At Sculpture by the Sea, Temporary displacement became a gentle jab in the ribs at coastal properties with swimming pools adjacent to the beach, and reminded us of the flipside to this luxury - when swimming in the ocean we are often swimming with waste.
This pliability of meaning is also apparent in Dawson's recent work User pays, 2006. The work comprises a parking meter and a park bench, and was originally intended to be situated in Hyde Park, Sydney, where passersby were invited to pay for their park bench time in the public park. The undercurrent ideas in User pays are central themes in Dawson's practice: she frequently voices concerns about homelessness and the question of how truly 'public' public space is.

As often happens when the worlds of public art and municipal councils collide, Dawson was unable to get approval for User pays in Hyde Park. She was not dissuaded, 'I always put my hat in the ring', and it was instead exhibited in the 2006 Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, where its position suggested another familiar Sydney public/private space dilemma: paying for a view. The proceeds generated from the User pays meter were donated to the Matthew Talbot Hostel for homeless men, where Dawson volunteers and teaches art workshops.

Since 2001 Dawson's practice has been to skew the purpose of mundane and everyday objects in order to present a gentle socio-political critique. She used old suitcases in the work In transit, 2003, and in the impressively large spiral piece Itinerary/itinerant, 2004, reflecting on the inequalities inherent in travel and mobility. Unfortunately these works had to be dismantled and are being stored in 'Dad's garage', an oddly appropriate static state for works that, like so many public artworks, were unable to obtain permanent exhibition in Sydney.

Dawson's work is brave: her sculptures are envisaged as permanent fixtures and are often very big - a rare and significant trait in the practice of a young, female, urban sculptor. When I spoke to her in November 2006 she was finalising a large version of her 'rocking ladders, titled Unsteady work. These ladders are aluminium and 5 metres tall, rocking on a curved base. Dawson is skilled in carpentry, and designed the structural basis for the rocking ladders, but states, 'as for making it rock without killing someone, I'm leaving that up to the engineers'. Like many artists, she finds the constraints of installing work in public space very frustrating:
I don't want to design a work that has to be council approved ... I want to push it a bit, and they perhaps can change ... One thing that does frustrate me is the idea of temporary art. It's really hard when you've designed a work that adheres to all the safety requirements and it's only up for two weeks. But then again, if you don't get it out there, it's never going to get out there ... I'm fed up with always showing my works as photographs.

Dawson grew up in Paddington, Sydney, and studied Fine Arts at Sydney's College of Fine Arts, where she has recently completed her Masters. Although she shows work in exhibitions that are sometimes criticised for being populist, this may say more about the limited opportunities for public artists in Sydney, than it does about Dawson's work. Her open attitude and ambition to exhibit as much as possible has led to great exposure early in her career. Dawson's practice is anything but 'unsteady work'.

Jesse Stein
 
This article appears in the Autumn 2007 issue of Art & Australia