Mallrat sees magic in suburbia – giant rabbits, a luminous moon, a transportive clothesline.
“In my head, there’s a parallel universe and it looks like Brisbane, Ipswich,” the Brisbane-born artist said at a Bigsound panel in September.
“It’s Southeast Queensland, but you can see the magic. And in my world, the Hills Hoist clothesline is the spawning point for all of the magic. It’s where all of the magical things are born from.”
This magical realist creative vision, which Mallrat (aka Grace Shaw) employed in the music videos for her latest album ‘Light hit my face like a straight right’, is characteristic of her ability to find love in the mundane, whether it’s groceries or the pavement.
She finds eternal love in a warm drink in Charlie – “I want coffee for breakfast / I want warm cups of tea / I just might love you forever / I hope you warm up to me.”
And Wish on an Eyelash is the innocence of magical thinking at its loveliest – “I made a wish on an eyelash / Made a wish on 11s / Made a wish on my birthday / Talk about you to heaven.”
How did she pull it off? A small crew and the help of director Tom Caroll (aka Egumei), who employed both lo-fi and more technical techniques, like using a 3D scanner to create VFX.
Mallrat takes inspiration from other cultural moments, like the anime Sailor Moon, recreating a 90s cartoon-style starry sky and larger-than-life moon, placed into a Brisbane setting for the song Pavement.
The night sky frames her as she sits on a roof she describes as “so Brisbane” with the unmistakeable silhouette of Brisbane city in the background.
The connection to home and childhood was clear as she talked about her vision, at one point in the panel reverting to her parents, who live in Albion, to ask her dad for the name of the iconic Australian “spinny fan” visible on the roof (the whirlybird).
Childhood imagination played a large part in Horses – Flutterbye, the My Little Pony figurine, is transformed into a real – if colossal – horse, while giant rabbits, ducklings and kid goats populate the train stations and backyards of Brisbane.
Naturally, album cover photography by Sammy-Jo Lang-Waite features Mallrat hanging onto a Hills Hoist, a butterfly resting near her hand and corrugated iron in the background.
“It really does capture, to me, something that is so authentically Australian and like, gritty and ugly, but it’s so beautiful,” she said.
Photography: Kate Lockyer
