tiffaney bishop & the SCUMPUPS was a precursor youth arts project to tbC. It began in 2008 and was based in Upwey, on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. It ran for four years before morphing into tbC. Like tbC, it was a youth-driven, adult and peer mentored artist-run initiative. The paradoxical nature of the name (an individual and group name sandwiched together) was an intentional device, highlighting the mentor-protégé culture the group was experimenting with.
tiffaney bishop & the SCUMPUPS engaged young people and adults in art and cultural projects that dealt with contemporary youth issues. It developed out of a one-off workshop initiated by a group of 5 thirteen-year-olds (Zoe, Jacqui, Anna, Charlotte and Trentt), all of whom had experienced random, unprovoked violence in their daily lives. These young people wanted to express the way they felt about their community experiences of violence through photography. Together, tiffaney bishop & the SCUMPUPS made photographic artworks that were exhibited in two public exhibitions: We’re Afraid of the Daylight in 2009 and a second called Station Rats and other Scumbags in 2010. While these contemporary bodies of artwork dealt with complex social and cultural issues, the works avoided the more clichéd presentations of young people as dangerous or in danger. Instead, the work celebrated young people and championed their legitimate status as citizens – and artists! It offered developing young artists and activists the opportunity to work collaboratively within a professional, contemporary, artistic environment as well as the opportunity to develop social, cultural and political agency within the broader community.
The word scum was often used to describe young people in Upwey. The artists involved in the collective chose to name themselves the SCUMPUPS in an attempt to reclaim the name as a powerful, positive symbol. Using it in a powerful and positive way liberated these young people from its negative effects. tiffaney bishop & the SCUMPUPS regularly held workshop sessions on the Upwey train station platform in a bid to connect with and engage as many young people as possible. The train station became an alternate studio space and sometimes gallery. The group’s practice focused on (re)imaging young people, addressing widespread prejudices against them, and highlighting the importance of community and artistic agency and status.
tiffaney bishop & the SCUMPUPS also launched the inaugural edition of Hoodie Mag, a youth art and culture magazine that engages young artists and activists in professional publishing practices. The inaugural edition was shortlisted in the 60th Annual Australian Publisher Association’s Book Design Awards for Best Designed Specialist Illustrated Book 2012. It also received a finalist nomination for the Best New Publication For and By Young People Under 30 in the Express Media Literary Book Awards in December 2011.
The success of tiffaney bishop & the SCUMPUPS was mainly due to the group’s professional and autonomous model of arts practice, something that has inspired tbC’s even more ambitious model of collaborative arts practice.
Sponsors and supporters of tiffaney bishop & the SCUMPUPS included the Victorian government’s Office for Youth, Metro Trains, Burrinja Community Arts Centre, Yarra Ranges Council, Belgrave Police, the Victoria Police Youth Foundation, Bendigo Bank, Bell Real Estate, and Upwey Foodworks.