For two years, Barry has been a daily co-driver, as well as being contracted by Tangentyere Council as Studio Manager. During this period, Barry developed a close relationship with six of the women and together discussed the possibilities of making a video project based on their relationship and the everyday lived experiences of those lives.

‘Cruising’ is a term the women enjoy using when they have the opportunity to drive around Alice Springs looking for fellow artists in multifarious locations, and engaging with other kin walking around town. ‘Driving’ is a form of accessibility into their mutual inter- and intra- subjective lives. The concept of journeying also registers the complexities of living under the propriety of a hegemonic community, and its inherent ‘expectations’. In contrast, cruising suggests the unexpected, ad hoc, incremental, provisional, and multivalent nature of Aboriginal life-worlds.

The project Cruising continues Barry’s ongoing interest in the ‘performative moment’ set in culture and a practical methodology. The performative moment positions all subjectivities – those in front of the camera and those behind it. It becomes a reworking by performance, a space of proximity, mobility, wherein the camera acts as a catalyst and not as a neutral recording device –  its actual ‘presence’ is responsible for creating the responses of the participants being filmed.  Photography and performance form part of an act of auto/biographical re-presentation. By using a handheld camera, Barry enacts both mobility and proximity. In cultural terms, proximity suggests accountability, reciprocity, and the potential for enduring relationships.