Toowoomba has been described as the gateway to Queensland's Bible Belt, "largely free from the influences of multi-culturalism" ... "the last truly homogeneous city left in the country." It stands alone "like a kind of sociological benchmark. "' Even though the stigma of Joh's influence must be slowly lifting (mind you, the old saying that to get to Queensland you turn right at Sydney can still be heard), Queensland art practice and discourse still reflects regionalist attitudes. This is due, in part, to our geographical isolation as well as to a strong conservative element in the community.
In this setting of cultural isolation, it would seem that the majority of students who graduate from art institutions in Queensland reflect this conservatism through a self-referentiality. There is often an unwillingness to take up the wider issues and to look outside the egocentric and/or local cultural debate, to look at the more problematic intellectual questions that promote discourse in the contemporary international community. This is not to say that these former concerns aren't valid ones, but they are a reflection of the sort of provincial attitudes that can often preclude a broader perspective.
Where Are They Now? was an exhibition of selected artists who have completed tertiary qualifications within the University College of Southern Queensland (UCSQ- formerly Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education) and was cocurated by Thomas Vale-Siattery, UCSQ's Cultural Relations Adviser and John Hoare, ceramics lecturer.
In his introduction to the accompanying book, Thomas Vale-Siattery defines one of the problems facing any emerging artist (particularly in Queensland)-that an artist is trained as a professional, but is not accorded the same status or financial remuneration as other professionals. This underlines the