No permission: guerrilla artists hustling for a living

Sydney Contemporary, Australia's largest art fair, returned recently, attracting collectors and curators to a historic railway workshop in Eveleigh. More than 100 galleries from around the world exhibited over 500 pieces created by artists from 33 countries. The fair generated $154 million in sales over the past decade, with the average yearly income of Australia's professional artists being $23,200, as reported by Creative Australia.

Many artists supplement their income with a second job, such as Hal Witney, who works at a local council and set up his artwork in the back of a truck he rented. Witney, who didn't receive an invite to showcase his work, utilized a guerrilla-style approach to sell his pieces. Despite lacking a gallery representation, Cybele Malinowski, a Sydney-based photographer, managed to sell two of her pieces at the fair.

Her work, called Deep Fake, is a photo series featuring aspirational rock stars who never realized their dream and instead work as celebrity impersonators. Malinowski and her subject walked into a supermarket to capture a knock-off version of legendary musician Prince, without permission - a tactic she refers to as guerrilla-style art.

Sydney Contemporary serves as a reminder that artists must live like everyone else, and artistic value is not separate from the economic realities that produce it.