Ashton, Chase, Kyle and Precious - Youth Futures Community School Midland, Untitled 1 (detail), 2024, ink monotype on paper from milk cartons and KFC box.

Happy Meals and Scooter Skids: Art from the outer suburbs is a project developed by Rockingham-based artist and educator Andy Quilty in collaboration with students from three outer suburban high schools: Youth Futures Community School Midland, Armadale Senior High School and Warnbro Community High School.

A series of workshops facilitated by Quilty throughout 2024 aimed to empower the participants with the skills, conceptual knowledge and confidence to share their outer suburban experience through creative forms. Using found and low-cost materials and exploring inventive processes, the workshops sought to acknowledge and navigate some of the socio-economic barriers impacting young people in the outer suburbs who may want to participate in the arts.

A dynamic and celebratory exploration of outer-suburban life, Happy Meals and Scooter Skids aims to amplify under-represented stories, improve arts access for outer-suburban communities, and develop awareness among participating young people of the possibility of pursuing the arts into the future.

Showing as part of Perth Festival, concurrent exhibitions at Midland Junction Arts Centre and FORM Gallery will feature solo and collaborative works by Quilty and students from the participating schools, before touring to the Kim Fletcher Gallery in Armadale and Rockingham Arts Centre later in the year.

Presented by FORM: building a state of creativity and MAC Inc. as part of Perth Festival.