ACTF News

The stories, characters and worlds of children’s television leave an indelible mark on our memories and help to shape our childhoods, our worldview, and – in some cases – our careers.

When Melbourne-based artist David Booth shared an artwork featuring the ACTF logo, we knew we needed to learn more about how children’s television might be influencing contemporary visual arts. To what extent are the Australian artists who grew up during the 1980s and 90s influenced by the shows they watched in childhood? How might Australian children’s television have ignited the imaginations of creative practitioners?

We invited six artists to create a new work based around their relationship with Australian kids’ TV and the culture of their formative years. Celebrated as ‘fan art’, the artists explored their memories of ACTF stories across a broad range of mediums. The works were a vehicle to revisit the screen stories of their youth and examine the lasting impact children’s television had on their childhoods and, as adults, their artistic practice. These artworks were showcased at the farewell event for outgoing chair Janet Holmes à Court at the ACTF head office. While they remain the property of the artists, we hope that it might be possible to exhibit them soon.

ACTF CEO Jenny Buckland said: “We have been blown away by the artworks created during this project. They illustrate that the television we watch as children has a profound impact, right at the time when we are developing our identity. If it’s great content, made especially for us, it has the capacity to fire our imaginations, influencing who we become. To see the influence of Australian children’s content reflected in these captivating works has been incredibly rewarding. Thank you to all the artists who delved into their childhoods to create these wonderful pieces.”

David Booth

The Kaboodle Room in My Mind, 2022

Giclee print edition of 15

"I was born in Tasmania in 1991, and there was limited access to TV, so I soaked up anything I could get. All the TV I saw as a child really transported me away from my little island. It made me want to draw and make things. Cartoons, books and drawings from my childhood are a major part of my art practice. Accessing the free daydreamy space of childhood is the pursuit of why I draw and create. After digging through the archives at the ACTF I’ve rediscovered how much the colours and creations have impacted me. There’s more to it that’s hard to even put into words.

There is a room in my mind that I can access that holds all the images, flavours and feelings from lying on the carpet in front of our wooden family TV. I’m drawing all the things I see and dream about. Characters from TV and books and pop culture all mash together to form a memory of a feeling about my budding inner world as a young boy."

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