Kidogo Arthouse

Internationally acclaimed artist Joanna Robertson has been at the helm of Kidogo Arthouse for more than two decades.

Having called Fremantle home for thirty years, she originally arrived on transit to Australia's east coast via Dublin. The Tanzanian-born artist had just finished an artist's residency in America, and a short stint in the North Pole, before stopping in Perth to visit a friend. She liked the city too much to leave.

"My plan had been to go to Sydney or Melbourne, and I landed in Perth, and I thought this is actually quite nice," she tells Lost in Fremantle. "I decided to stay. I love living here. It's a wonderful place, and I've gotten to know the most incredible people."

Kidogo Arthouse was initially built as a Kerosene Store in the 1880s, positioned on the Fremantle beachfront in the shadows of the Roundhouse. Its thick limestone walls and small windows were intentional to store dangerous goods and hazardous explosives, but these days it serves as an intimate venue for live music performances and art exhibitions.

Formerly the workshop of renowned local potter Joan Campbell, Kidogo Arthouse remains a space for visual artists, including Indigenous exhibitions. "It's where a lot of artists have launched their career,” says Joanna. "I've had many thousands of exhibitions!"

Local musicians tout it as "the best acoustic venue in Perth", according to its founder, offering nights of jazz, blues, swing, opera and more recently, Leonard Cohen covers. "It's quite small, you can make eye contact with everybody in the room, and the sound is incredible because the walls are really rough," Joanna adds.

During live music performances, you’ll find couples cosying up to seductive jazz while sipping wine, while others bring in takeaway fish and chips from nearby Cicerello's. Families come along with their children. Joanna shares freshly baked Irish soda bread she's been making out the back during the music encore. "I try to make it feel like you've come to my home. It's got an eccentric feel to it. It's non-conforming," she says.

Tucked-away by Joanna's artist's studio, Kelp is a pop-up bar that can be navigated through a rugged limestone "hole in the wall", past the kitchen and a labyrinth of fairy lights, old lamps and mismatched chairs.

Joanna opens the beachfront bar only when events are on. "Nobody knows when it is open, you need to be in the know," she muses.

Those "in the know" locals know (but we're telling you now, too) that Kelp Bar will be open every day during Sculptures at Bathers from mid-February to early March when Bathers Beach will attract thousands of people visitors, which coincides with the Perth Festival. Kelp will also open during the Irish Aboriginal Hand in Hand Festival in March for the second consecutive year.

Photo credit: This is Fremantle (main image) / Kidogo Arthouse