These Two Perth Artists Were Brought Together by a Shared Love of Sandwich Meat

Polony is a quintessentially Western Australian sandwich meat made from questionable ingredients. It’s also the title of a collaborative new exhibition at Perth’s Paper Mountain gallery put together by Amy Perejuan-Capone and Penelope Min Ferguson, the artists behind design labels Horse on Toast and Min Pin. 

Perejuan-Capone and Ferguson met during their first year of art school at Curtin University and quickly became close friends. They’ve continued hanging out ever since, and in Polony the duo explore the autobiography of their own best friendship through a series of delicate drawings and installations. 

‘Holy Polony’ (2016) by Horse On Toast and Min Pin 

As “1980s babies raised by skint single mums”, the duo’s visual interest in polony is derived from a certain nostalgia for the cheap and cheerful sandwich staple of their primary school lunches. To add to the friendship mythology, both artists grew up in neighbouring suburbs and their mums shopped at the same deli—although they didn’t meet until years later when they commuted to classes on the same bus route. 

“The friendship really began sitting together on that bus, forcing each other to listen to 16-minute extended Radiohead, New Order, or Beck tracks on CD,” Perejuan-Capone tells The Creators Project.   

Mystery meat is also, she says, a good metaphor for an artistic relationship. “It conjures images of miscellaneous parts, grinding machines, and coagulating pink slime; a perfect analogy for the collaborative process.” 

‘Charmed’ (2016) by Min Pin 

As well as testaments to pink sandwich filling, the exhibition displays relics of key friendship moments the two women have shared. A charm bracelet tells tiny stories that only the two artists can decipher. “But even though they’re super specific to us, I think they’re almost archetypes of a certain kind of late teen or early twenties experience,” Perejuan-Capone says. “That time you drunkenly lit a fire where you shouldn’t have: passing out and puking on your mate; dancing; baking pies; getting tattoos; gem encrusted vomit.”

Polony continues until May 29 at Paper Mountain Gallery, 267 William Street Perth. 

You can check out more of Amy Perejuan-Capone’s work here and Penelope Min Ferguson’s work here. 

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