tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/australian-art-9678/articles
Australian art – The Conversation
2024-03-26T16:39:44Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226008
2024-03-26T16:39:44Z
2024-03-26T16:39:44Z
Strong, resolute and uncompromising: you should see the intense and beguiling art of Waanyi artist Judy Watson
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583934/original/file-20240325-30-dphcx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C0%2C7755%2C5205&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Installation view of 'mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri: Judy Watson’ at Queensland Art Gallery. © Judy Watson/Copyright Agency. Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA </span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name of someone who has died.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In the late 1970s, the south bank of the Brisbane river was a hectic construction zone, the new and permanent home of the Queensland Art Gallery. At this same time, Judy Watson’s fledgling career as a visual artist was also beginning. </p>
<p>It is fitting that Watson’s expansive survey show, <em>mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri</em> (“tomorrow the tree grows stronger”, taken from a poem by Watson’s son Otis Carmichael), is staged in the Queensland Art Gallery building, which this year celebrates its 42nd birthday. </p>
<p>Contemporary photographs of the Robin Gibson-designed building on opening day in 1982 show a stark, sun-soaked edifice with small spindly trees on a sparse verge overlooking the river. The history of Watson’s considerable creative practice through the decades align with the gallery building. </p>
<p>Like the gallery, Watson is as much a part of the cultural fabric of Brisbane’s visual arts scene from the late 20th century into the new millennium. Her work is held in many public and private collections, both in Australia and internationally, most notably in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London. </p>
<p>Originally trained as a printmaker, Watson is now truly a multimedia artist. The 130 artworks within this survey show include prints, drawings, paintings, video and installations spanning her career between 1981 to 2023. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1245&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1245&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583933/original/file-20240325-19-sbf43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1245&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, Waanyi people, Australia b.1959. red tides 1997. Pigment and pastel on canvas,187.0 x 112.8cm. Mollie Gowing Acquisition fund for Contemporary Aboriginal art 1999 Collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney © Judy Watson/Copyright Agency. Image courtesy: The artist and Milani Gallery.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-black-ground-1989-by-judy-watson-69767">Here's looking at: black ground, 1989 by Judy Watson</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘Rattling the bones of the museum’</h2>
<p>Born in 1959 in Mundubbera and raised in Brisbane’s outer-suburban Acacia Ridge, Watson undertook her initial visual art training in Toowoomba before leaving Queensland to work and study interstate, and then overseas. </p>
<p>Watson’s matrilineal family is from Waanyi country in north-west Queensland, and this bloodline is a principal driving force of her art practice. </p>
<p>In this exhibition works are arranged into thematic categories; identity, ecology, feminism, and Watson’s investigations into historical and social archives. </p>
<p>Challenging notions of Indigenous aesthetic perspectives, Watson has spoken in the past about bringing hidden histories to light through delving into archives (“rattling the bones of the museum”, as <a href="https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/learn/education-resources/mudunama-kundana-wandaraba-jarribirri-judy-watson/the-archive/">she puts it</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583980/original/file-20240325-20-bd5dy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, Waanyi people, Australia b.1959. 40 pairs of blackfellows’ ears, lawn hill station (detail) 2008. Wax and nails, 40 parts: 15 x 10 x 3cm (each, approx.). Collection: The artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane (Meeanjin/Magandjin). © Judy Watson/Copyright Agency. Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One such work is 40 pairs of blackfellow’s ears, lawn hill station (2008) which sees 40 pairs of cast beeswax ears nailed to the gallery wall, echoing the 19th century grisly punishment and murder of the Waanyi peoples by a <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/grisly-secret-of-cattlemen-who-kept-40-pairs-of-ears-as-trophies-in-outback-horror-house/news-story/17022ba7691314b4cff5aadbf8511936">brutal cattle station boss</a>. </p>
<p>A more contemporary event, the demise of Palm Island man <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-19/palm-island-community-still-struggling-after-death-in-custody/5901028">Cameron Mulrunji Doomadgee</a> is also explored in memory bones (2007), a print work which Watson describes for her is “internal grieving” where white rib-like forms float above a blood-like splatter of red ochre. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1209&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1209&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583968/original/file-20240325-30-wxhxwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1209&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, Waanyi people, Australia b.1959. memory bones, 2007. Pigment and pastel on canvas, 211 x 127cm. The James C. Sourris AM Collection. Gift of James C. Sourris through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2010. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Judy Watson/Copyright Agency. Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beauty and power</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, Watson <a href="https://collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au/page/biography-judy-watson">won</a> the Moet and Chandon travelling fellowship, the second Indigenous artist to do so, after fellow Queenslander Gordon Bennett. Unlike Bennett, whose “in ya face” work was overtly socio-political, Watson’s approach is more subtle. </p>
<p>In the Louise Martin-Chew’s 2009 book about Judy Watson, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Judy_Watson.html?id=3su-oyZ-ky4C&redir_esc=y">Blood Language</a>, Watson described how her work aims to seduce the viewer through its beauty. Powerful messages of Indigenous dislocation, Stolen Generations, and disenfranchisement lie beneath. </p>
<p>There are monumental works that fill the gallery walls. In canyon (1997) we see a two-storey high thin vertical canvas with a snaking skein of yellow ochre. In two halves with bailer shell (2002), the shells used to bail water out of a canoe, are rendered in thin white lines over a sumptuous ocean-blue. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1276&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1276&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583931/original/file-20240325-30-vd1urx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1276&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, Waanyi people, Australia b.1959. two halves with bailer shell 2002. Pigment and synthetic polymer paint on canvas 194 x 108cm. Purchased 2003 Collection: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Judy Watson/Copyright Agency.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The deep pigments within Watson’s works – particularly the indigo blues and ochres – are intense and beguiling. Printed or digital reproductions do not do them justice: these works must be seen in the flesh. </p>
<p>Several sculptural works broaden Watson’s practice, with walama (2000) a large installation of bronze termite mounds and upside-down dillybags, and her wonderful toe row (2016), a cast bronze fishing net permanently installed outside the gallery.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583932/original/file-20240325-18-k6hp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, Waanyi people, Australia b.1959. walama (installation view) 2000. Bronze, 18 parts (various dimensions). Courtesy: The artist, Milani Gallery and UAP Brisbane (Meeanjin/Magandjin). Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the course of four decades, those spindly trees bordering the Queensland Art Gallery now tower over the riverbank, offering welcome shade to visitors and forging a connection between the gallery and the river. </p>
<p>Like those mighty trees, Watson’s career has grown in a similar manner in that time: strong, resolute and uncompromising. This survey exhibition offers a counterpoint to the online world of glib fast-art purveyors that feed the insatiable appetite of social media consumers. </p>
<p>Watson is an artist of the highest integrity, a living legend of Australian art, her people, and country. Tomorrow the Watson tree will indeed continue to grow stronger.</p>
<p><em>mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri: Judy Watson is at the Queensland Art Gallery until August 11.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-artists-judy-watson-and-helen-johnson-are-stripping-back-australias-white-blanket-of-forgetfulness-188721">How artists Judy Watson and Helen Johnson are stripping back Australia's 'white blanket of forgetfulness'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alasdair Macintyre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
An expansive Queensland Art Gallery survey show of lyrical Indigenous artist Judy Watson, mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri, is both thought provoking and stunningly beautiful.
Alasdair Macintyre, Associate lecturer visual arts, artist, PhD, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222499
2024-03-05T01:53:14Z
2024-03-05T01:53:14Z
Bundanon’s Tales of Land & Sea: three exhibitions working in harmony to discuss loss, migration and colonisation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579724/original/file-20240304-18-p1b9et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C6471%2C4321&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jumaadi, ayang-ayang, installation view. Tales of Land & Sea , Bundanon, 2024. Photo: Jessica Maurer</span> </figcaption></figure><p>A bit over 30 years ago, I met <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/boyd-arthur/">Arthur Boyd</a>, and we talked about art. At the time the Art Gallery of NSW was preparing a huge retrospective exhibition of his life’s work. It was not uncommon for curators and art dealers to call him a “genius”. His response to this adulation was acute embarrassment.</p>
<p>He described his artistic career as “selfish” and saw his own art as ephemeral. The true value of his contribution to Australia, to the world, he said, was in the gift of the 1,000 hectares named Bundanon he and his wife Yvonne were donating to the people of Australia. The Boyds were determined no developer would turn this earthly paradise into real estate.</p>
<p>Arthur Boyd understood the tragedy of loss of place. In the 1960s the much loved Boyd family home, <a href="https://caseycardinialinkstoourpast.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-grange-narre-warren-north.html">The Grange, Harkaway</a>, had been demolished to become a quarry. His art – and that of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyd_family">generations</a> of his family – had been nourished by its pastoral beauty, which was turned to rubble. Bundanon has been created in the spirit of The Grange, a place for artists and others to create and perform, surrounded by pastoral beauty.</p>
<p>The three separate exhibitions that come together in Tales of Land & Sea, speak to Boyd’s sense of justice, his desire to break down barriers between class and cultures, and his deep love of the ancient myths that still speak to humanity. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-odd-work-that-has-borne-the-brunt-of-my-grief-the-serenity-and-the-grit-of-stanislava-pinchuks-the-theatre-of-war-222498">'An odd work that has borne the brunt of my grief': the serenity and the grit of Stanislava Pinchuk's The Theatre of War</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An exquisite exhibition</h2>
<p>The year Arthur and Yvonne Boyd gave Bundanon to the Australian people, 1993, was also the year Arthur Boyd collaborated with a young Indonesian art student, Indra Diegan, on a visual retelling of one of the great West Javanese myths, <a href="https://www.bundanon.com.au/sangkuriang/">Sankuriang</a>. </p>
<p>It is a tale of gods who become animals, of love and jealousy, of incest and guilt. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579718/original/file-20240304-30-favm7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arthur Boyd and Indra Deigan, Sangkuriang - A legend from West Java, 1993, excerpt from artist book with collagraph on French BFK Rives Paper by Arthur Boyd. Double spread 445 x 645mm. Bundanon Collection.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Boyd had been introduced to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collagraphy">collagraphs</a>, a mode of printmaking, by Diegan’s husband some years before, and collaborating on her honours project was a natural outcome of the friendship. </p>
<p>Their final outcome was a book, whose beauty lies in this collaboration. Boyd’s intense, passionate prints work in harmony to create a visual conversation with Diegan’s delicate woodcuts. Only 12 copies were printed. The three in the Bundanon collection form the core of this small, exquisite exhibition.</p>
<h2>Of life and death</h2>
<p>In the adjoining large gallery is ayang-ayang, showing the work of the artist Jumaadi. Echoes in the form of shadows are at the heart of the exhibition. </p>
<p>In both Indonesia and Australia, colonisation led to mass displacement, exploitation and death. Jumaadi’s paintings draw both on the visual iconography and materials from traditional folk art, a connection emphasised by a separate display of historical Javanese artefacts, including exquisitely carved elaborate hair pieces displayed to throw deep shadows on the gallery wall.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579719/original/file-20240304-26-12b0y6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jumaadi, The Sea Is Still A Mystery, performance, Bundanon Art Museum, 2024. Photo: Rachael Tagg.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The main exhibition space is dominated by a screening of a performance of <a href="https://asiasociety.org/new-york/wayang-kulit-indonesias-extraordinary-shadow-puppetry-tradition">wayang Kulit</a>, Indonesian shadow puppetry.</p>
<p>In The Sea is Still a Mystery, a fisherman first catches an abundance of fish, but then his line draws up a bizarre array of sea creatures, a wrecked ship, strange objects (including old beds and a wedding dress) body parts, plants, ships carrying sheep and a head that looks like Captain Cook. The sea may give us life, but it is also the home of the dead. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579717/original/file-20240304-18-pd9zqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jumaadi, A wedding gown, 2021, synthetic polymer paint on cotton cloth primed with rice paste 315 x 285cm. Collection of the Artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the subjects and themes in the wayang kulit are repeated and expanded in the paintings and buffalo hide pieces that fill the gallery. These include a series of large works he made during the COVID lockdown. Lovers are shown together, or separated by migration. A large wedding dress has many embryos growing at its base. The artist flies under the wing of a plane across the volcanic islands. </p>
<p>As an artist he can fly free, but the confined passengers may well be indentured labour, facing an uncertain future.</p>
<h2>Of labour and loss</h2>
<p>The third exhibition, Sancintya Mohini Simpson’s par-parā / phus-phusā (“to speak incessantly / to whisper”) is an exploration of the legacy of the artist’s maternal ancestors who were <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_indenture_system">Indian indentured labourers</a>, gulled into travelling to South Africa to work on the sugar fields. </p>
<p>Simpson makes the point that the great 19th century migration of Indians to the sugar fields of Africa, Fiji and the West Indies was hardly voluntary. The colonial powers saw them as a substitute for the recently freed slaves, and treated them accordingly.</p>
<p>The main installation, Vessel (4) consists of mounds of earth from Bundanon, scattered with ash from caramel-smelling sugar cane. These hold a series of earthenware <a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Lota_(vessel)">lotas</a>, vessels used in sacred ceremonies, smeared with sugar cane ash to make them a dull grey. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579722/original/file-20240304-26-t8frbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sancintya Mohini Simpson, par-parā / phus-phusā, 2024 . Tales of Land & Sea , Bundanon, 2024. Photo: Jessica Maurer.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the site for a sound installation piece Simpson performs with her sibling, Isha Ram Das. The lotas vibrate with an amplified sound when gently tapped by both artists in an echoing rhythm. </p>
<p>Their art speaks of labour and loss, of salt for the sea that divided the people from their homelands, and for the tears they shed when they realised they could never return. </p>
<p>As I was looking at the three exhibitions, by artists whose connections to Australia are via different parts of Asia, I thought of Arthur Boyd, and the way his family were also in transit between Australia and England. He knew, as they know, the yearning for the other, the distant ancestral land. </p>
<p>The Boyds’ vision of Bundanon has been fulfilled. Not only has the land been preserved and nourished, but at its heart there is a hub, a meeting place where artists in transit can stop, consider, and create. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-video-art-of-arthur-jafa-a-counterpunch-to-anyone-who-wants-to-put-people-of-colour-in-their-place-222510">The video art of Arthur Jafa: a counterpunch to anyone who wants to put people of colour in their place</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: This article originally misstated the printmaking process used by Boyd and Tony Diegan relationship to Indra Diegan. These have been amended.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
The three separate exhibitions that come together in Tales of Land & Sea, speak to ancient myths that still speak to humanity.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211994
2023-09-08T01:07:55Z
2023-09-08T01:07:55Z
How photography can reveal, overlook and manipulate truth: the fearless work of Australian Iranian artist Hoda Afshar
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546575/original/file-20230906-27-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C11%2C3988%2C3245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hoda Afshar 'Untitled #88', from the series 'Speak the wind' 2015–22, pigment photographic print, 80 x 100 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist
</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Through her poetically constructed images, <a href="https://www.hodaafshar.com/">Hoda Afshar</a> illuminates a world overshadowed by history and atrocity. Yet we never see despair: we see defiance, comradeship, reinvention and a search for how photography can activate new ways of thinking.</p>
<p>Afshar was born in Iran and migrated to Australia in 2007. She began her practice as a documentary photographer in Tehran, having originally been attracted to acting. </p>
<p>Staging and creative intervention would become significant features of her work. </p>
<p>Even in her early, nominally “documentary” series, you can sense an embracing of the ambiguity of the still image, and an interest in composing a reality more vivid (and perhaps genuine) than dispassionate reportage might be capable of.</p>
<p>Afshar is now one of Australia’s most significant photo media artists, so it’s a surprise that <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/hoda-afshar/">Hoda Afshar: A Curve is a Broken Line</a> at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is her first major survey exhibition.</p>
<p>What unites her materially diverse work is a concern with visibility: who is denied it, what is made visible by media, and how photography can reveal, overlook and manipulate truth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Twofold’ 2014, printed 2023, from the series ‘In the exodus, I love you more’, 2014–ongoing, digital print on vinyl, installation dimensions variable © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Much of her work addresses critical humanitarian issues of our time: war, statelessness, diaspora, oppression, corruption. She challenges stereotypes. We don’t see passive victims or closed narratives: we are introduced to new perspectives that might lead us to reappraise the world we inhabit.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waqt-al-tagheer-time-of-change-explores-the-diversity-of-muslim-australian-identities-91916">Waqt al-tagheer: Time of change explores the diversity of Muslim Australian identities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Familiarity and distance</h2>
<p>The exhibition is made up of six bodies of work, the first of which began with the passing away of her father in Iran. </p>
<p>In the exodus, I love you more (2014–) is a portrait of her home country formed by experiences of familiarity and distance. The artist is both at home and searching, like an outsider. Images suggest at times an intimate proximity, and at others a separation akin to the one made by raising a camera to your eye. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Grace’ 2014, from the series ‘In the exodus, I love you more’ 2014–ongoing, pigment photographic print, 47 x 59 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Afshar examines her experience of migration and, she tells me, seeks to “dismantle the idea of there being one way of seeing Iran”.</p>
<p>The final image in this series shows the erasure of a woman’s face in a painted Persian miniature.</p>
<p>In the adjoining room, the new series In turn (2023) is a suite of large, framed photographs of Iranian women based in Australia. Many images show them as they tenderly braid one another’s hair. These women are unidentifiable, apart from artist and activist <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/say-her-name-melbourne-s-iranian-community-protests-over-mahsa-amini-death-20221001-p5bmh7.html">Mahla Karimian</a>, who appears airborne with a pair of flying doves. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #4’, from the series ‘In turn’ 2023, pigment photographic print, 169 x 128 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This work was catalysed by the <a href="https://www.icrw.org/women-life-freedom-why-icrw-stands-with-the-protest-movement-in-iran/">women-led protest movement</a> sparked by the death of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/16/iranian-woman-dies-after-being-beaten-by-morality-police-over-hijab-law">Mahsa Jina Amini</a>, an Iranian Kurdish woman arrested in September 2022 for not following Iran’s strict <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-impose-strict-dress-code-hijab-women-protests-mahsa-amini-rcna79081">female dress codes</a>. The uprising filled the streets with women chanting “Women, Life, Freedom!” and “Say her name!” in fearless defiance of authorities, who responded with <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/watch-women-and-girls-are-still-protesting-in-iran-heres-why">murderous retaliation</a>.</p>
<p>Afshar was observing her homeland from afar. She says she wanted to “share voices the media was ignoring”. She was inspired by social media images of women plaiting each other’s hair in public: a rebellious act that echoes a practice of <a href="https://qz.com/467159/these-female-kurdish-soldiers-wear-their-femininity-with-pride">female Kurdish fighters</a> preparing for battle. </p>
<p>But the images aren’t violent. They’re quietly peaceful, showing solidarity in grief, hope and determination. In making this “visual letter” to her Iranian sisters, Afshar has risked long-term exile from her country of birth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #2’, from the series ‘In turn’ 2023, pigment photographic print, 169 x 128 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Resolute defiance</h2>
<p>Much of Afshar’s work fearlessly tells stories that have been hidden or misrepresented. </p>
<p>Remain (2018) was made in collaboration with asylum seekers detained on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/06/australia-to-end-offshore-processing-in-papua-new-guinea">Manus Island</a>.</p>
<p>This work is made up of a series of austere, absorbing portraits and a large-scale two-channel video installation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Remain’ 2018 (video still), from the series ‘Remain’ 2018, two-channel digital video, colour, sound, duration 23:33 min, aspect ratio 16:9, installation dimensions variable, Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2020 © Hoda Afshar, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We see men imprisoned in a place that would otherwise resemble paradise. We hear their voices recounting experiences of trauma and displacement. But, with Afshar, they co-create performative, narrative-evoking works that avoid degrading cliches of victimhood. </p>
<p>The most widely recognised image in this series is a portrait of Kurdish Iranian writer and filmmaker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/22/behrouz-boochani-the-refugee-writer-who-exposed-the-cruelty-of-australias-island-jail">Behrouz Boochani</a>, who chose to be pictured alongside fire. Smoke and flames echo the ardent strength of his gaze. This strength allowed him to emerge a free man after <a href="https://www.humanrightspulse.com/mastercontentblog/behrouz-boochani-refugee-detained-by-australia-for-six-years-is-granted-asylum-in-new-zealand">six years of incarceration</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Behrouz Boochani – Manus Island’, from the series ‘Remain’ 2018, pigment photographic print, 130 x 104 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2020 © Hoda Afshar, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Behold (2016), once more we see acts of resolute defiance by people performing for the camera. Afshar was invited by a group of gay men to observe re-enacted gestures of protection and intimacy <a href="https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/06/06/how-homosexuality-became-a-crime-in-the-middle-east">outlawed</a> in most of the Middle East.</p>
<p>Unable to freely express their love in society, they disclose and affirm it for Afshar and her lens.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #7’, from the series ‘Behold’ 2016, pigment photographic print, 95 x 120 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agonistes (2020) pays homage to a group of Australian whistleblowers who appear as a Greek chorus of heroic truth tellers. </p>
<p>Created through a complex process of photographic recording and 3D printing that conjures lifelike detail, the portraits look like sculpted marble busts. But this rendering leaves the eyes blank, and captions describing the corruption revealed by each figure don’t divulge their names. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Portrait #3’, from the series ‘Agonistes’ 2020, pigment photographic print, text, 69 x 55 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Afshar maintains her practice of disclosing truth while protecting those who have the courage to tell it.</p>
<h2>Being alive is breaking</h2>
<p>Speak the wind (2015–22) returns us to Iran, to the Strait of Hormuz, where “ill winds” are said to blow. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/jan/14/african-slavery-in-qajar-iran-in-photos">African slaves</a> were brought here over centuries, a trade only stopped in the 1920s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #18’, from the series ‘Speak the wind’ 2015–22, pigment photographic print, 80 x 100 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Afshar’s photographs and video imagery explore a place haunted by history. We see the outward manifestations of an invisible wind (dramatically carved rock formations, ripples in water, flowing fabric). Shrouded figures bow on the dry earth, seeking cure from possession by malicious spirits. </p>
<p>Afshar investigates to what extent we are captives of history (in Australia we must grapple with the legacy of colonisation). In making this lyrical work, Afshar again collaborated with local people, some who made drawings of “<a href="https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zar">wind spirits</a>” they said they had encountered. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #11’, from the series ‘Speak the wind’ 2015–22, pigment photographic print, 80 x 100 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The title of the exhibition was inspired by lines in a poem by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kaveh-akbar">Kaveh Akbar</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a curve is a straight line broken at all its points so much <br>
of being alive is breaking.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hoda Afshar’s work addresses conflict, injustice, mobility and the often fragile state of being alive. It reminds us that dominant powers can be challenged by exposing truth and envisioning something new. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-10-photography-exhibitions-that-defined-australia-166755">Friday essay: 10 photography exhibitions that defined Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hoda Afshar: A Curve is a Broken Line is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until January 21 2024.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Hoda Afshar is one of Australia’s most significant photo media artists. A Curve is a Broken Line at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is her first major survey exhibition.
Tom Williams, Lecturer - Visual Arts, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202719
2023-08-21T04:09:37Z
2023-08-21T04:09:37Z
Painting the unfamiliar: why the first European paintings of Australian animals look so alien to our eyes
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522531/original/file-20230424-24-mvgd9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C1%2C1276%2C1074&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Kongouro from New Holland, 1772, George Stubbs </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-573621">National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1772, Joseph Banks commissioned the foremost painter of animals in England, George Stubbs, to paint a dingo and a kangaroo. </p>
<p>To our modern eyes the paintings lack the vitality and strength of the animals we are familiar with in Australia. The kangaroo more closely resembles a rodent than a bipedal marsupial. The dingo’s glassy-eyed stare lacks any animation.</p>
<p>Stubbs was renowned for how well he captured horses and dogs. Even today, those paintings of his capture the lifelike individual essence of his subject. So why did his paintings of the dingo and kangaroo – some of the earliest European representations of Australian animals – look so strange?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-australia-v-england-in-battle-over-stubbs-masterpieces-19921">It's Australia v England, in battle over Stubbs masterpieces </a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘To compare it would be impossible’</h2>
<p>Stubbs had not travelled with the 1768 Endeavour expedition to the South Seas. Instead, Banks commissioned him to paint from skins collected during the voyage. </p>
<p>While the journey was officially to chart the transit of Venus across the Sun from the vantage point of Tahiti, King George III also <a href="https://www.nla.gov.au/digital-classroom/senior-secondary/cook-and-pacific/indigenous-responses-cook-and-his-voyage/secret">secretly instructed</a> James Cook to search for the fabled Terra Australis Incognito and </p>
<blockquote>
<p>with the consent of the Natives […] to take possession of a Continent or Land of great extent […]in the Name of the King of Great Britain. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Banks collected the skins of a “large dog” and a “kongouro” (thought to be a misinterpretation of the Guugu Yimidhirr word gangurru, which refers to the Grey Kangaroo) when the Endeavour pulled into safe harbour for repairs after striking the Great Barrier Reef in June 1770. </p>
<p>Banks recorded his <a href="https://statelibrarynsw.tumblr.com/post/147361252859">first impressions</a> of this very unfamiliar animal in his journal entry dated July 14 1770. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>To compare it to any European animal would be impossible as it had not the least resemblance of any one I have seen. Its fore legs are extremely short and of no use to it in walking, its hind again as disproportionately long; with these it hops 7 or 8 feet at each hop in the same manner as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerboa">Gerbua</a>, to which animal indeed it bears much resemblance, except in size […]</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A simple pencil sketch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522532/original/file-20230424-16-lksybg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first European drawing of a kangaroo, by Sydney Parkinson in 1770.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/first-european-drawing-of-a-kangaroo">Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sydney Parkinson, one of the artists who accompanied Banks, made five sketches of the dead animal after it was shot by one of the ship’s gamekeepers. </p>
<p>These sketches, the flayed (and possibly inflated) skins, Banks’ journal entry and his personal memories were the material that informed Stubbs as he made his preparations to paint these very unfamiliar animals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-art-of-the-colonial-kangaroo-hunt-102169">Friday essay: the art of the colonial kangaroo hunt</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The semantic memory</h2>
<p>Stubbs was lauded for his anatomically correct forms of horses and dogs. On occasion, Stubbs also painted exotic animals like the lions housed in the Royal Menagerie. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A beautiful horse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522534/original/file-20230424-26-80rbgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Whistlejacket by George Stubbs, 1762.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/george-stubbs-whistlejacket">National Gallery</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But his paintings of the dingo and kangaroo were the first time he painted animals he had never studied from life.</p>
<p>Stubbs capitalised on the swell of interest in the return of the Endeavour by exhibiting the paintings at the Society of Artists in London 1773. </p>
<p>This brought the dingo and the kangaroo to the scientific community and public’s attention. The animals became the two most associated with the new world of Australia – adding greatly to Great Britain’s sense of national pride as the conqueror of new worlds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522535/original/file-20230424-28-u53w6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of a Large Dog (dingo) by George Stubbs, 1772.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-573620">National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stubbs’ kangaroo painting set the standard for future representations of the animal until well into the 19th century, serving as a model for engravings and illustrations used in <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo7919484.html">scientific</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Account_of_the_Voyages">popular</a> publications.</p>
<p>But Stubbs’ kangaroo more closely resembles the rat-like Gerbua of Banks’ description than the creature we know today. This can perhaps be explained by Stubbs’s unfamiliarity with the animals. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1260&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543604/original/file-20230821-230558-4ympol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1260&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An animal of a new species found on the coast of New South Wales. 1773 engraving based on Stubbs’ painting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Museum of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As an artist who had made a lifelong study of the anatomy and movement of animals, he would normally have relied on what psychologists refer to as “<a href="https://www.livescience.com/43353-implicit-memory.html">implicit memory</a>” when painting his subject in the studio. That is, the unconscious memory he would instinctively rely on from years of painting animals he was familiar with. </p>
<p>It’s a bit like riding a bicycle: once learned, it’s never forgotten. </p>
<p>In this case, Stubbs primarily relied on “<a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/semantic-memory.html">semantic memory</a>”, or general knowledge of his experiences in the world, to paint the unfamiliar by utilising the knowledge, written material and personal recollections Banks had given to him.</p>
<p>Having been told a kangaroo was a giant rat-like gerbua by Banks, it is understandable that Stubbs also relied on his implicit memory of rats and gerbuas to depict the kangaroo. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A kangaroo with a joey." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1240&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1240&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543606/original/file-20230821-153592-8a4cch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1240&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An animal found on the coast of New Holland called kanguroo, 1809, by Thomas Thornton, based on Stubbs’ painting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rendering the unfamiliar</h2>
<p>As an artist, I can relate to this. My paintings of unfamiliar landscapes in Scotland and Ireland always seem to depict trees that look like eucalypts. </p>
<p>Despite using the same brand of watercolours I have used my whole artistic life, the way I paint the interplay of light, shadow and hue on mountain passes, birch groves and fields of heather and gorse usually seems more gaudy than the dull blue-grey colours of the Australian bush. </p>
<p>Unconsciously, I overlay the hues of the Australian landscape onto my paintings of the British landscape in order to tone the gaudiness down – much like the English painters who conversely depicted the Australian bush as English landscapes. </p>
<p>Rendering the unfamiliar familiar. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/terra-nullius-interruptus-captain-james-cook-and-absent-presence-in-first-nations-art-129688">Terra nullius interruptus: Captain James Cook and absent presence in First Nations art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janelle Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
How did George Stubbs, one of England’s foremost painters of horses and dogs, get Australian animals so wrong?
Janelle Evans, Senior Lecturer, Critical and Theoretical Studies, Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209799
2023-07-28T02:43:54Z
2023-07-28T02:43:54Z
More than a picture: how the work of documentary photographer Raphaela Rosella is defined by co-creation
<p><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artboards/photography/photo-documentary/">Documentary photographers</a> have traditionally aspired to tell other people’s stories. For 15 years, artist Raphaela Rosella and the women close to her have forged their own complex visual narratives, despite frequent interventions by the criminal justice system.</p>
<p>Rosella is an Italian-Australian documentary artist devoted to long-term, <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/socially-engaged-practice">socially engaged</a> collaborative projects made with participants from Nimbin, Casino, Lismore and Moree in regional New South Wales. </p>
<p>Aware that photographs can <a href="https://photo.org.au/channel/a-brief-history-of-photography-and-truth">enable stereotypes and mislead viewers</a>, she decided early in her career the people she photographed should be given ongoing control of their representation. This means active collaboration in making images and a body of work, as well as continually seeking consent if sharing it with an audience.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ima.org.au/exhibitions/raphaela-rosella-youll-know-it-when-you-feel-it/">You’ll Know It When You Feel It</a> at Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art has evolved through these relationships. </p>
<p>Rosella and her co-creators have sought to reclaim and counteract the narratives formed by state records, instead telling stories of the love they feel for family and the challenges they’ve faced: both together and when separated by the geography of prison custody. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-photograph-change-the-world-204648">Can a photograph change the world?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Welcomed into a home</h2>
<p>Rosella is close to the women she works with, and knows they have been routinely marginalised and denied freedoms. </p>
<p>Some of the audio-visual archive was produced by participants while imprisoned, in response to a legal system that confronted them at a young age. The women see their collaborative work as a “site of resistance” where they can detach their identities from the procedures and labels imposed by bureaucracy. </p>
<p>Rather than granting sole storytelling agency to one artist or organisation, these women take a central role in communicating their own histories and perspectives.</p>
<p>The show feels like being welcomed into someone’s home: there are fabric curtains, handwritten cards, family photos, the reassuring sound of nearby voices. </p>
<p>This warm familiarity contrasts with the dehumanising language of the official documents on display: “At no time are photographs to be taken of the inmate”. </p>
<p>Each section of the exhibition is accompanied by a short text that reads like the opening lines of a personal letter. We’re entrusted with intimate moments and heartfelt correspondence. There are no image titles or dates on most of the photographs or videos, as if in defiance of the classificatory legal papers interwoven throughout.</p>
<p>The first image we see as we enter is a portrait coauthored by Kamilaroi/Biripi woman Nunjul Townsend. She meets our gaze with an intensity of emotion that reflects the profound bond she has with friend and artistic partner Rosella. </p>
<p>Next to it, a tenderly made photograph of Nunjul and her young son embracing is placed inside a sterile grid of blank “<a href="https://www.kdllaw.com/legal-updates/requirements-for-signing-a-statement-of-truth-on-court-documents">statement of truth</a>” court documents. </p>
<p>The juxtaposition is moving: love between mother and son can’t be reduced to written transcripts - or even captured by a camera. But throughout the show the kinship that connects the group is palpable. </p>
<h2>Crucial questions</h2>
<p>Each participant has an individual curated space within the gallery, including Rosella and her identical twin. Rosella doesn’t shy away from revealing her own story to the viewer in self-portaits, video and wall text, or reflecting critically on her process (“the camera was enabling your addiction”). </p>
<p>Many of the people whose lives we engage with in the show are Aboriginal, and all have been impacted by violence. </p>
<p>One participant, Tammara, was killed in 2020 after the pair had been working together for a decade. An image of an empty Jim Beam bottle embedded in a wall speaks of the terror of domestic violence that is so <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/quick-facts/">sickeningly incessant</a> in Australia.</p>
<p>The space dedicated to Kathleen “Rowrow” Duncan is one of the most affecting. Wall text and a small, handwritten note from mother to her newborn baby tell us that Rowrow is under prison guard. She has given birth and will soon return to a cell. </p>
<p>The majority of this space, from floor to wall, is filled by a transcript that maps Rowrow’s transfers from prison to prison over four years. I counted 30 relocations. It’s hard to imagine the effect this would have on a person’s sense of home; or hope. </p>
<p>In a note Rosella has written to co-creator Tricia, Rosella laments how Tricia’s partner had only “spent three of his birthdays on the outside since he was nine”.</p>
<p>One large wall in the exhibition is filled from floor to ceiling with a mosaic of photos, contact sheets, handwritten notes, drawings, redacted documents and letters (many of them posted from behind bars). Formal portraits are assembled alongside childrens’ drawings and intimate correspondence. </p>
<p>There is no visual hierarchy in the installation: each element speaks of a life, a shared experience, a human connection.</p>
<p>As an audience, we are driven to ask questions. Why are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women <a href="https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2021/07/30/1383557/rethinking-female-incarceration-road-to-prison-paved-with-domestic-abuse">imprisoned so disproportionately</a>? Why are many <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-children/contents/justice-and-safety/children-under-youth-justice-supervision">disadvantaged kids</a> who come into contact with law enforcement caught in “<a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/australias_criminal_justice_system_-_australias_third_upr_2021.pdf">cycles of incarceration</a>”? Why don’t we properly address <a href="https://www.communityservices.act.gov.au/children-and-families/adoption-kinship-and-foster-care/therapeutic-resources/understanding-intergenerational-trauma">intergenerational trauma</a>?</p>
<p>The strength of You’ll Know It When You Feel It is how it makes us connect with real stories that transcend statistics and theoretical debates.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-mothers-are-incarcerated-at-alarming-rates-and-their-mental-and-physical-health-suffers-116827">Aboriginal mothers are incarcerated at alarming rates – and their mental and physical health suffers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Collaborative dialogue</h2>
<p>Documentary photographers have historically sought to reveal problems and inequalities in the world, fuelled by a desire to provoke change. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos">Lewis Hine</a> famously played a role in reforming child labour laws in the USA through his images of young children at work. Visual storytellers are documenting the effects of <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/03/31/1089862924/meet-5-women-documenting-the-effects-of-climate-change-around-the-world">climate change</a>. </p>
<p>But documentary practice has been <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/the-debate-over-ruin-porn-2170/">criticised</a> by scholars for benefiting privileged photographers and institutions too often, advancing careers under the guise of concerned activism at the expense of their subjects.</p>
<p>Rosella, by contrast, engages in a genuine collaborative dialogue. Exhibition and publication are not the driving force. </p>
<p>This project is a rare example of artwork catalysing practical change. These photographs have been used to influence legal outcomes like the length of jail sentences and granting of parole. The voices of participants are heard and preserved.</p>
<p>The final room of the exhibition contains <a href="https://www.raphaelarosella.com/hometruths">HOMEtruths</a>, an immersive three channel video installation that intercuts home movies from the collaborators with cinematic depictions of family and Country. </p>
<p>It is an absorbing, hope-affirming work that highlights connection to loved ones and significant places across generations. We experience the ancient landscape the artists are part of. Newborn lives engender fresh optimism.</p>
<p><em>You’ll Know It When You Feel It is at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, until August 19.</em></p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In You’ll Know It When You Feel It at the Institute of Modern Art, Raphaela Rosella and her co-creators have sought to reclaim and counteract the narratives formed by state records.
Tom Williams, Lecturer - Visual Arts, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200160
2023-06-26T02:02:20Z
2023-06-26T02:02:20Z
Nothing is left to chance and every detail is carefully calculated: the hyperrealistic (and divisive) paintings of Michael Zavros
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533878/original/file-20230626-185700-c4qk77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C2041%2C1483&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Australia b.1974, Bad dad 2013. Oil on canvas, 110 x 150cm. Purchased 2016 with funds raised through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation Appeal. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. © Michael Zavros </span> </figcaption></figure><p>Michael Zavros’s art is autobiographical to an obsessive – even neurotic – degree. </p>
<p>Not only is much of his work self-referential with images of self, his children, his aspirations and his daydreams, but the whole discourse around his art has been formulated by the artist through his endless interviews, his social media presence and the mythology he has cleverly constructed around himself. </p>
<p>Even the essays in the catalogue accompanying this new exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, are riddled with quotations from the artist. Do we know too much about Zavros and what he thinks he is trying to achieve in his art to be able to see his art? </p>
<p>How would we respond to this exhibition if we happened upon it by chance in a gallery in downtown Thessaloniki and were told it was by some contemporary Greek artist whose name we didn’t know? Would it make sense and how would we negotiate it? </p>
<p>Zavros is identified with an exacting photorealist technique. Much of his earlier work was derived from found imagery of desirable fashion accessories and celebrated brand names that he would render in a painstaking manner as exactly and as lovingly as he could. </p>
<p>This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of Zavros’s work in a state gallery and is selected from his work from the past 25 years. Assembled by curator Peter McKay, it contains over 100 pieces, primarily paintings, but also including sculptures, photographs, video pieces and performance art. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-the-australian-war-memorial-do-with-its-heroic-portraits-of-ben-roberts-smith-206934">What should the Australian War Memorial do with its heroic portraits of Ben Roberts-Smith?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Mastery of technique</h2>
<p>What are we to make of his oeuvre to date? Zavros exhibits a mastery of an exquisite technique and a refined sensibility. Nothing is left to chance. Every detail is carefully calculated. </p>
<p>Photography plays a key role in his art making. In his earliest pieces, clippings from a fashion magazine were meticulously reproduced as oil paintings as in Man in wool suit (1998). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533877/original/file-20230626-154331-qa1qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Australia b.1974, Man in a wool suit 1999. Oil on board, 15.2 x 19cm. Courtesy: the artist. © Michael Zavros.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aspirational garments, fashion statements and great architectural edifices were carefully studied, appropriated and translated into a photographic form. </p>
<p>Depending on scale, this was sometimes carefully projected onto a painting surface. The huge Acropolis Now (2023) mural in acrylic, measuring about 7.5 metres by almost 20 metres, frames the entrance to his exhibition.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533883/original/file-20230626-16-eh3869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros in front of Acropolis now 2023 at Michael Zavros: The Favourite, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. Photograph: David Kelly. © Michael Zavros.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other designs from photographs may be plotted onto a canvas through the very traditional dot method, or resolved in Photoshop and then transferred before being painted. </p>
<p>As a general observation, the photographic origins of most of his works – despite the attempted and frequently successful attempts at verisimilitude – is generally reflected by a certain prevailing flatness in the paintings. </p>
<p>This applies to some of the most accomplished and acclaimed pieces including Bad Dad (2013), and Phoebe is dead/McQueen (2010). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533873/original/file-20230626-137221-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Australia b.1974. Phoebe is dead/McQueen 2010. Oil on canvas, 110 x 150cm. Collection: Moran Arts Foundation, Sydney © Michael Zavros.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Conspicuous consumption</h2>
<p>Invariably the question arises concerning the ideology or the conceptual underpinnings of Zavros’ imagery. </p>
<p>On a very simple level, one can say much of his imagery touches on highly desirable luxury goods, as items of conspicuous consumption. The artist has reasoned that, as many people aspire to own such items, exquisitely rendered images of them would appeal to the same people.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533881/original/file-20230626-74220-xfx4d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Australia b.1974, Ars Longa Vita Brevis 2009. Oil on canvas, 210 x 167cm. Courtesy: the artist © Michael Zavros.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This, together with the knowledge Zavros belongs to a family of Cypriot Greek and Irish immigrants living on the Gold Coast where such aspirational items would be economically out of reach for them, provides a certain confidence in such a reading. </p>
<p>Artistic success has brought out the narcissist in the artist with such hypnotic images as V12/Narcissus (2009), where the artist has appropriated a pose from the famous Caravaggio painting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(Caravaggio)#/media/File:Narcissus-Caravaggio_(1594-96)_edited.jpg">Narcissus</a>. Now it is the artist reflected in the shiny surface of his brand-new car. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533875/original/file-20230626-19-e8fwl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Australia b.1974, V12/Narcissus 2009. Oil on board, 20 x 29.5cm. Gift of the artist 2013. Donated through the Australian government’s Cultural Gifts Program. Collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Image courtesy: Michael Zavros.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Is Zavros celebrating the existing world order and its elite and the consumption of luxury goods, or is he critiquing it, shining a light on folly and exposing it with irony and creating subversive art? </p>
<p>This seems to be a basic divide between his supporters who acquire his work at <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/12m-feeding-frenzy-on-art-by-brisbanes-da-vinci/news-story/8fdedba969d12a3fa61a6c87625bdd6f">ever-increasing prices</a> and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/the-things-someone-loves-about-the-work-the-next-person-hates-why-michael-zavros-art-polarises-20230621-p5di7g.html">his detractors</a> who view him essentially as an artist dedicated to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancien_R%C3%A9gime">Ancien Régime</a> who has a vested interest in propping up its existence.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buy-art-because-you-love-it-not-because-it-might-make-you-rich-50921">Buy art because you love it – not because it might make you rich</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Power and prestige</h2>
<p>On the evidence presented in this exhibition, there seems to be a development in his thinking from appropriation and celebration to a questioning of earlier assumptions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533886/original/file-20230626-179830-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Australia b.1974, The poodle 2014. Oil on canvas, 135 x 150cm. Private collection © Michael Zavros.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is difficult to view pieces including The poodle (2014) other than as a critique of a society completely out of control and sacrificing function for the sake of cute design.</p>
<p>The large installation piece Drowned Mercedes (2023) has the aspirational car of his dreams made functionless by being filled with water. </p>
<p>As with most of Zavros’s work, there is an autobiographic element. In the garage of the house where he normally parks his car, during the floods the water would have flooded this car. This gleaming symbol of power and prestige is destroyed through the impact of climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533879/original/file-20230626-119066-fvy3b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros with Drowned Mercedes 2023 at Michael Zavros: The Favourite, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. Photograph: David Kelly © Michael Zavros.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Zavros, who is one of Australia’s most successful younger artists – he will turn 50 next year – has reached a certain watershed in his career. </p>
<p>Reflecting on the experience of this major exhibition, he told me he had a “scrapbook full of ideas” and will now have the opportunity to do something about it with large-scale installations and painted bronzes. </p>
<p>Let’s hope this comes to fruition.</p>
<p><em>Michael Zavros: The Favourite is at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, until October 2.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200160/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A new exhibition of the Australian artist’s work at QAGOMA is the first comprehensive survey of Michael Zavros in a state gallery.
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206934
2023-06-05T05:59:25Z
2023-06-05T05:59:25Z
What should the Australian War Memorial do with its heroic portraits of Ben Roberts-Smith?
<p>On Friday, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/dismissed-legal-experts-explain-the-judgment-in-the-ben-roberts-smith-defamation-case-191503">Federal Court dismissed</a> Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times. </p>
<p>Justice Anthony Besanko ruled the newspapers had established, by the “balance of probabilities” (the standard of evidence in a civil lawsuit), that Roberts-Smith had committed war crimes. </p>
<p>Following the ruling, much public debate has focused on what the Australian War Memorial should do with Robert-Smith’s uniform, helmet and other artefacts of his on display. </p>
<p>Greens senator David Shoebridge <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidShoebridge/status/1664140665666826240">called for</a> the removal of these objects from public display to correct the official record and “to begin telling the entire truth of Australia’s involvement in that brutal war.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1664140665666826240"}"></div></p>
<p>The topic of what to do with Roberts-Smith’s uniform and helmet was debated on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH1oVNVJP1k">ABC’s Insiders yesterday</a>: should the display be removed, effectively cancelled, or changed to tell the full story? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dismissed-legal-experts-explain-the-judgment-in-the-ben-roberts-smith-defamation-case-191503">'Dismissed': legal experts explain the judgment in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The case of the oil paintings</h2>
<p>It is not just these artefacts on display. The memorial also has two heroic oil painting portraits of Roberts-Smith by one of Australia’s leading artists, <a href="http://www.michaelzavros.com/">Michael Zavros</a>. </p>
<p>These paintings were commissioned by the memorial in 2014. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529980/original/file-20230605-16883-qhpzvv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Pistol grip (Ben Roberts-Smith VC), 2014, oil on canvas, 162 cm x 222 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2092390">© Australian War Memorial</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2092390">Pistol Grip (Ben Roberts-Smith VC)</a> is a larger-than-life-sized depiction of Roberts-Smith, camouflage arms outstretched, mimicking the action of holding a pistol.</p>
<p>The smaller <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2092391">Ben Roberts-Smith VC</a> depicts him in ceremonial military uniform. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529982/original/file-20230605-23-pgn7xe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Zavros, Ben Roberts-Smith VC, 2014, oil on canvas, 30 x 42 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2092391">© Australian War Memorial</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an <a href="https://memoreview.net/reviews/the-anti-art-of-war-by-rex-butler-and-paris-lettau">article in arts criticism website Memo</a> yesterday, respected Monash University art historian Rex Butler and arts journalist Paris Lettau weighed into the debate. </p>
<p>Butler and Lettau say Pistol Grip is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>threatening, over-bearing, macho, hyper-masculine, celebratory, and enormous, like the man himself – some 220 centimetres wide and 160 centimetres high.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When Zavros created his large portrait it was a depiction of a soldier doing what he was trained – and venerated – for doing. </p>
<p>It is an aggressive pose that, given current developments, can be read in a much more sinister way. It touches on a far bigger question of how national institutions for the public memory of war address difficult and morally ambiguous moments in a national story. </p>
<h2>Moral and ethical ambiguity</h2>
<p>When the Canadian War Museum opened at its new site in Ottawa in 2005, its new displays included two paintings in their collection by Canadian artist <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-in-her-powerful-portraiture-military-artist-gertrude-kearns-pays/">Gertrude Kearns</a>. </p>
<p>The paintings, Somalia without Conscience, 1996, and The Dilemma of Kyle Brown: Paradox in the Beyond, 1995, dealt with one of the most shameful episodes in Canada’s military history, known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia_affair">Somalia Affair</a>. </p>
<p>In 1992, the Canadian Airborne Regiment was deployed as peacekeepers to Somalia. In 1993, 16-year-old Shidane Arone was found hiding in the Canadian base, believed to have been stealing supplies. He was tortured, and soldiers photographed themselves with the semi-conscious boy. Master Corporal Clayton Matchee and his subordinate Private Kyle Brown <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/7x75xg/remembering-the-somalia-affair-canadas-forgotten-abu-ghraib-moment">were charged</a> with his murder and torture.</p>
<p>Somalia without Conscience depicts Matchee posing with the beaten Arone, while The Dilemma of Kyle Brown depicts Brown symbolically holding two potential fates in his hands: a lightly coloured cube in his right hand, and a darkened cube in his left. It addresses an ethical grey area many soldiers face during active service when the hierarchy of command comes into direct conflict with conscience. </p>
<p>Following the opening of the new Canadian War Museum, the presence of Kearns’s paintings sparked <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=nltxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT519&lpg=PT519&dq=%E2%80%9Cwas+not+only+telling+the+stories+of+heroism+and+courage+that+most+of+them+expected+to+be+told+but+also+stories+about+failures,+disappointments,+and+human+frailty%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=sfQZw_2qXL&sig=ACfU3U18i4X0ERdbg0wfOKXbnOIe1-5-pA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXw6Sdk6v_AhXGVmwGHbRwDh0Q6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cwas%20not%20only%20telling%20the%20stories%20of%20heroism%20and%20courage%20that%20most%20of%20them%20expected%20to%20be%20told%20but%20also%20stories%20about%20failures%2C%20disappointments%2C%20and%20human%20frailty%E2%80%9D&f=false">intense debate</a>. Curator Laura Brandon received abusive emails from members of the public. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529986/original/file-20230605-23-vgma1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The museum copped criticism from figures such as the head of the National Council of Veterans Associations, who <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/war-museum-s-paintings-anger-veterans-group-1.546113">called</a> the paintings a “trashy, insulting tribute” and urged a boycott of the opening of the new museum.</p>
<p>Discussing this controversy in 2007, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354856507072860?journalCode=cona">Brandon said</a> what upset veteran communities was that “their” museum:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>was not only telling the stories of heroism and courage that most of them expected to be told but also stories about failures, disappointments, and human frailty. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Brandon remained steadfast the museum needed to address the messy ambiguities of war and, despite pressure, kept Kearns’s paintings on display for the duration of the exhibition. </p>
<h2>The complexity of contemporary art</h2>
<p>Brandon’s curatorial decision to display Kearns’s Somalia paintings strike at the heart of what is special and important about contemporary war art in a national museum.</p>
<p>Contemporary art presents ethical and moral complexity, grey zones and a range of perspectives. This is vital in a healthy liberal democracy. </p>
<p>While Brandon’s choice to show Kearns’s Somalia paintings attracted criticism, the museum remained committed to telling a story that is difficult, ethically and morally complex, and uncomfortable for Canadians. </p>
<p>To remove Zavros’ portraits from display would remove the now-untenable hero narrative that once surrounded Roberts-Smith. But doing so would also rewrite public memory by effectively erasing an important part of why and how Roberts-Smith was revered. </p>
<p>These portraits now represent a morally complex story that needs to be addressed by our national war museum. </p>
<p>To remove the portraits would miss a valuable opportunity to debate important questions about how we construct hero stories.</p>
<p>So, how could these portraits still be shown in future? </p>
<p>Zavros’ portraits were already complex works. </p>
<p>Following Friday’s announcement, it is more important they are seen in all their additional multi-layered and problematic complexity. </p>
<p>The portraits show us how we create the nation through the stories we tell ourselves, and how dynamic that narrative can be. The portraits present a valuable opportunity to show narratives of war – like the stories of our own lives – are never simple, consistent and coherent. </p>
<p>The portraits should be displayed in ways that address this complexity, capturing the evolving story of Roberts-Smith in explanatory wall text. There is an opportunity here to not simply “correct” the official record, as Shoebridge suggests, but to have a deeper conversation about the role of hero narratives in diverting attention away from more important public debates about Australia’s involvements in conflicts. </p>
<p>Maybe this could be addressed in the art the memorial commissions in future. </p>
<p>The most compelling contemporary art works – and the most valuable museum displays in our national institutions – are those that consider our complex stories, raise important and self-reflective questions, and challenge simplistic narratives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-defence-force-must-ensure-the-findings-against-ben-roberts-smith-are-not-the-end-of-the-story-206749">Australian Defence Force must ensure the findings against Ben Roberts-Smith are not the end of the story</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prof Kit Messham-Muir is the lead Chief Investigator on the ARC Linkage Project Art in conflict: transforming contemporary art at Australian War Memorial, in partnership with the Australian War Memorial and National Trust (NSW), leading a team of investigators from University of Melbourne, UNSW and University of Manchester. Art in Conflict was funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council. Art in Conflict (LP170100039) received a Linkage Project grant of $293,380 and in-kind contributions from the Australian War Memorial. Former Canadian War Museum Curator Laura Brandon was a keynote speaker at the War, Art and Visual Culture: Los Angeles symposium in 2019, as part of the Art in Conflict project. The opinions expresssed here do not in any way reflect those of the Australian War Memorial. </span></em></p>
To remove the portraits would miss a valuable opportunity to debate important questions about how we construct hero stories.
Kit Messham-Muir, Professor in Art, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205480
2023-05-29T02:06:56Z
2023-05-29T02:06:56Z
Milton Moon: the Australian artist who brought a Zen Buddhist, modernist and painterly sensibility to pottery
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528731/original/file-20230529-157612-dcx4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1991%2C1410&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Milton Moon in his studio in Tarragindi, Queensland, 1966, photo: John McKay, Milton Moon archive</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Milton Moon (1926-2019) was not your regular potter. He was deeply imbued with Zen Buddhism and once said each vessel is a container for thoughts, “a fundamental expression of life’s forces”. </p>
<p>His work produced over six decades is on show in a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia that calls for close looking. </p>
<p>He took to his craft in his early 30s from the base of a successful career in ABC radio. </p>
<p>Once his hands were working with clay, he never looked back. </p>
<p>On show are some of his earliest ceramics, made and exhibited in 1959 when living in Brisbane. His influences were artists living or showing in Brisbane then, including <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/figurative-artist-stepped-out-from-his-brothers-shadow-20111211-1opnc.html">David Boyd</a>, son of Merric Boyd, and <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/2892/">Hermia Boyd</a> whose studio ceramics were on show in July 1959 at the progressive <a href="https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/discover/exhibitions/johnstone-gallery-archive">Johnstone Gallery</a>. </p>
<p>Studio ceramics – with its hallmark folk tradition, figurative form and applied decoration – appears briefly in some early Moon work such as his Sculptural vase, 1960. Owl-like, the eyes at the top look down on viewers, while the decorative markings double as plumage and drawing on clay. </p>
<p>More elemental even, but in the same style, is his Antipodean head, 1962, whose rough torso looks hewn from a rock-face.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1038&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1038&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528734/original/file-20230529-159170-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1038&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milton Moon, born Melbourne 1926, died Adelaide 2019, Vase, Antipodean head, 1962, Tarragindi, Brisbane, stoneware, 26.67 cm, 9.2 cm (diam.); Estate of the artist, © Estate of Milton Moon.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The art of Zen</h2>
<p>While the earthy nature of some of Moon’s pots are in response to the Australian landscape, he had a deep interest in matters philosophical, formally studying philosophy in the mid-1960s. This was greatly extended by a year in Japan in 1974. </p>
<p>It wrought changes to Moon himself. He studied meditation in the Zen style with Kobori Nanrei Sōhaku, Abbot of the Rinzai sect, whose teachings influenced his life course, and his ceramics. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528724/original/file-20230529-146903-utt3ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milton Moon, born Melbourne 1926, died Adelaide 2019, Plate, with blossom pattern, 1978, Summertown, Adelaide Hills, stoneware, 11.0 x 53.0 cm; Estate of the artist, © Estate of Milton Moon.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Moon said, “no one ever leaves Japan unaltered”. In his 2006 book <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Zen_Master_the_Potter_the_Poet.html?id=4bMzAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">The Zen Master, the Potter and the Poet</a>, he explores this journey. </p>
<p>On display are a series of ceramic landscape platters that point to those deep changes such as Plate with blossom pattern, 1978. Its abstract marks meld an Australian landscape base with finely drawn blossom, while the calligraphic gestures on his Dish, 1982, point to a deep infusion of a Zen way of thinking and making.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-the-west-discovered-the-buddha-182140">Friday essay: how the West discovered the Buddha</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A painterly potter</h2>
<p>Moon was a painterly potter. He saw little difference between painting on a canvas and painting with glazes on the surface of a pot, and two of his abstract paintings, mark making on canvas, are in the exhibition. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528725/original/file-20230529-23-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milton Moon, born Melbourne 1926, died Adelaide 2019, Fairweather pot, 1966, Tarragindi, Brisbane stoneware, thrown flaring cylindrical shape with calligraphic brush decoration over brushed ash glaze, 40.0 cm, 27.3 cm (diam.); Gift of Patrick and Pam Wilson 1987, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, © Estate of Milton Moon, photo: Natasha Harth.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moon’s delicate, refined Fairweather pot, 1966, made in homage to his friend <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-study-of-artist-ian-fairweather-considers-how-chinese-ideas-influenced-this-wanderer-and-adventurer-164077">Ian Fairweather</a>, is very much a painted pot. Its calligraphic lines, inspired by the artist’s paintings, sweep around and down the rounded pot with grace and beauty. </p>
<p>Moon, though, observed at the time “it is difficult to achieve the fragility and impermanence Fairweather gives his paintings”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528726/original/file-20230529-146903-syzrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milton Moon, born Melbourne 1926, died Adelaide 2019, Folded pot, early 1970s, Rose Park, Adelaide, stoneware, 27.0 cm, 30 cm (diam.); Richard Boland Collection, © Estate of Milton Moon.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some ceramic pieces are functional. Others, like the early 1970s Folded pot, have their functionality denied. </p>
<p>The allure lies in the harmony of the shape, the gradation of glazes, and its changing texture governed by a sense of restraint: not too much, not too little.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-study-of-artist-ian-fairweather-considers-how-chinese-ideas-influenced-this-wanderer-and-adventurer-164077">A new study of artist Ian Fairweather considers how Chinese ideas influenced this wanderer and adventurer</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘Let nature take its course’</h2>
<p>Moon was fascinated by the geological nature of clay itself. </p>
<p>What stands out is the texture of much of the work on show such as his Platter, 1962-64, which Moon achieved by the quality of the clay he used, his mode of firing the pots and his innovative application of glazes. The word “experimentation” comes to mind. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528728/original/file-20230529-205367-d6ohwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milton Moon, born Melbourne 1926, died Adelaide 2019, Platter, 1962–64, Tarragindi, Brisbane, stoneware, 10.2 x 45.5 x 47.0 cm; Estate of the artist, © Estate of Milton Moon.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the accompanying catalogue, his son Damon (<a href="https://damonmoon.com/">also a master potter</a>), talks about the technical aspects of his father’s work and how he applied glazes to clay like an artist – drawing or painting onto the surface with a brush, a stick or his fingers, scratching back layers of oxides and adding wood ash to achieve the colours and textures of the landscape he was after. </p>
<p>The quirks in the firing process were yet another element in Milton Moon’s experimentation, Damon observing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>in this funny business of mud and water and fire, he was willing to let nature take its course. I think he liked that aspect of ceramics.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Hybrid space</h2>
<p>While the curatorial intent in Crafting Modernism is to contextualise Milton Moon’s ceramics in the broader narrative of Australian art, his location in that narrative is more complex. </p>
<p>This stands out when looking at his impressively large floor pots such as his Yourambulla landscape pot, 1990, standing close on a metre high with its earthy tones, and inscribed, scratched-in lines to convey the dense scrubby nature of the bush. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528729/original/file-20230529-104407-hlgs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milton Moon, born Melbourne 1926, died Adelaide 2019, Yourambulla landscape pot, 1990, Summertown, Adelaide Hills, stoneware wheel-thrown, 83.5 x 46.0 cm (diam.); South Australian Government Grant 1990, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Estate of Milton Moon.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over and above the obvious references to the landscape is an underlying sense of the calligraphic gestures to evoke the bush. </p>
<p>In this and many other works he dances between two worlds and two cultures, crafting a hybrid space. That is what is so alluring about his work.</p>
<p>Moon was a prolific potter. He spoke through his ceramics, once writing making marks on the surfaces of pots “are my words”; they are a “whispered secret”. </p>
<p>The beauty of the exhibition curated by Rebecca Evans is its distilling of his output over 60 years to a coherent and poetic display. Its framing in a white space, in a top-lit gallery with natural light augmented by artificial light, makes the works sing. </p>
<p>A Zen-Buddhist vision lives on in works of great beauty.</p>
<p><em>Milton Moon: Crafting Modernism is on display at the Art Gallery of South Australia until August 6.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-japanese-avant-garde-ceramicists-have-tested-the-limits-of-clay-184470">How Japanese avant-garde ceramicists have tested the limits of clay</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205480/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Speck has, with Joanna Mendelssohn, Catherine De Lorenzo and Alison Inglis, received funding from the ARC to investigate exhibitions of Australian art. </span></em></p>
Milton Moon’s work produced over six decades is on show in a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Catherine Speck, Emerita Professor, Art History and Curatorship, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204262
2023-05-05T08:10:37Z
2023-05-05T08:10:37Z
As Julia Gutman’s maverick collage wins the Archibald prize, the award is truly in the hands of a new generation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C3676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Winner Archibald Prize 2023, Julia Gutman, Head in the sky, feet on the ground, oil, found textiles and embroidery on canvas, 198 x 213.6 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter
</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Julia Gutman’s Archibald-winning portrait of the singer Montaigne and Zaachariaha Fielding’s winning entry, Inma, in the Wynne Prize have more in common than their youth – although it is worth noting they both represent a new generation of artists, a changing of the guard at the Art Gallery of NSW’s annual series of art prizes. </p>
<p>These works – with Montaigne as the sitter and Fielding as the painter – capture the culture of music and performance that is at the cutting edge of their generation.</p>
<p>Montaigne, the performing name of singer Jessica Cerro, is a longtime friend of Gutman. Both share an intellectual rigour and a highly personalised approach to their art. </p>
<p>It is fair to say that, until recently, Gutman’s portrait would probably not have been hung, let alone won, the Archibald Prize. </p>
<p>For most of the last century or so, entries were dominated by portraits accurately described as “pale, male and stale”. </p>
<p>The change from men in suits to women in jeans, from academic portraits in oils to a maverick collage, can be charted in the Australian Cultural Data Engine’s handy <a href="https://acd-engine.github.io/archies-analytics/Archies.html#prize-money">Archibald Prize</a> database, which shows the many changes over the years, from the nature of the sitters, the age and genders of the winners, increases of the prize money and even the palette used by the artists. </p>
<p>As J. F. Archibald’s will stipulated that the judges must be Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW, it also shows the impact of particular trustees on deciding the winners.</p>
<p>When the President of Trustees David Gonski announced this year’s winners, he made a point of noting that particular consideration had been given to the views of the two artist trustees, Tony Albert and Caroline Rothwell. However, as the voting was unanimous, the trustees as a whole have endorsed this expansion of definitions of what a painting may be.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-think-archie-would-be-pleased-100-years-of-our-most-famous-portrait-prize-and-my-almost-50-years-watching-it-evolve-161575">'I think Archie would be pleased': 100 years of our most famous portrait prize and my almost 50 years watching it evolve</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Self-contained and vulnerable</h2>
<p>The portrait of Montaigne, Head in the sky, feet on the ground, consciously quotes Egon Schiele’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seated_Woman_with_Bent_Knees">Seated Woman with Bent Knees</a>, a deliberately awkward, edgy composition by the Austrian artist. </p>
<p>The pose shows the artist as both self-contained and vulnerable, hugging one knee to her body, her feet bare and open. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C3676&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C3676&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winner Archibald Prize 2023, Julia Gutman, Head in the sky, feet on the ground, oil, found textiles and embroidery on canvas, 198 x 213.6 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gutman works in a combination of collage and paint, using materials either found or donated, roughly stitching the pieces of cloth together, happily revealing in the process. The modulated tones of the feet come from a combination of hessian and patches of gold cloth; a rainbow stripe helps define her top, a sleeve comes from the apron Gutman wore while teaching art to small children. </p>
<p>There is a delightful ambiguity in the landscape in which Montaigne is seated. The collage moves into paint, but the paint has been scratched so from a distance it looks as though it, too, is collage. </p>
<p>The painted trickery does not end here. Behind the figure a stitched in translucent panel reveals the struts supporting the painting’s stretcher: simultaneously revealing and concealing.</p>
<p>Including actual paint is a wise move as the Archibald has a history of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/art-case-thrown-out-20060614-gdnr41.html">discontented artists</a> rushing off to the Supreme Court to contest the trustees decisions.</p>
<h2>Painting the music</h2>
<p>I first heard Montaigne’s distinctive soprano voice at a performance at the Giant Dwarf theatre in 2020, just after it was announced she would represent Australia at the Eurovision song contest, only days before the world locked down for COVID – and Eurovision was postponed for a year.</p>
<p>The same world-changing event took Zaachariaha Fielding away from performing music in the duo Electric Fields, to making art in his home country of Mimili in the APY lands in remote South Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winner Wynne Prize 2023, Zaachariaha Fielding, Inma, acrylic on linen, 306.2 x 198.5 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inma, which was awarded the Wynne Prize, is a visual celebration of the music he feels in the song and dance of this place of his childhood. Its limited palette emphasises the linear patterns and the music-like rhythm on the painted surface. </p>
<p>In his acceptance speech, which began with an attempt to have the waiting media throng respond to his song, Fielding paid tribute to the community arts workers of Mimili. He then led them in the song that is described in his gloriously complex and rhythmic painting.</p>
<p>Yet his was not the most surprising speech at the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize announcements. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winner Sulman Prize 2023, Doris Bush Nungarrayi, Mamunya ngalyananyi (Monster coming), acrylic on linen, 198 x 273.5 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That honour goes to Doris Bush Nungarrayi, the senior Luritja artist who was awarded the Sulman Prize for her painting Mamunya ngalyananyi (Monster coming) – a painting showing Mamu, the shapeshifting malevolent spirits that haunt the Anangu. </p>
<p>Her acceptance speech, all in language, was a passionate celebration of her victory, but also a recollection of her mother’s country and the deprivations that she and her people have suffered.</p>
<p>As a new generation wins the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, tradition is reinterpreted in the Sulman.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-joyous-celebration-to-the-depths-of-grief-the-new-orthodoxy-of-the-archibald-prize-is-there-is-no-orthodoxy-204261">From joyous celebration to the depths of grief: the new orthodoxy of the Archibald prize is there is no orthodoxy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: this article misstated the name of the Giant Dwarf. This has been corrected.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn’s research includes the ACD Engine and has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
This year’s Archibald and Wynne Prize winners show that a new generation of artists have now entered the mainstream.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203677
2023-04-13T04:57:22Z
2023-04-13T04:57:22Z
From radical to reactionary: the achievements and legacy of the influential artist John Olsen
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520668/original/file-20230413-22-xqt8zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C2%2C1928%2C994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library NSW</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After media outlets breathlessly described the late John Olsen as a “<a href="https://fb.watch/jSdCoR-2GN/">genius</a>”, I found myself humming The Chasers’ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXHleozgQ18">Eulogy Song</a>. </p>
<p>This is perhaps a bit unfair, but the hyperbole surrounding Olsen’s death seems to have crowded out any assessment of his real and lasting achievements as an artist. There is a danger here. </p>
<p>Hyperbole invites a reaction, which is not always kind. It is still hard to have a dispassionate discussion on the merits (and otherwise) of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/from-the-archives-1969-norman-lindsay-dies-20191112-p539sa.html">Norman Lindsay</a>, an artist often called a genius in his lifetime.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of John Olsen painting Love in the kitchen (now in a private collection) at Dunmoochin, Victoria in 1969, by Robert Walker © Estate of Robert Walker.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>John Olsen and Australian art</h2>
<p>To understand Olsen, and his importance to Australian art, it is important to give some context. He emerged from that generation of Australians whose childhood was coloured by the deprivations of the second world war, and whose adolescent experience was of an expanding, changing Australia. </p>
<p>War meant that he finished school as a boarder at St Josephs Hunters Hill, while his father fought in the Middle East and New Guinea and his mother and sister moved to Yass in rural New South Wales.</p>
<p>His ability to draw meant that he escaped the tedium of a clerical job by becoming a freelance cartoonist while moving between a number of different art schools, including Julian Ashtons, Dattilo Rubio, East Sydney Tech and <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/orban-desiderius-dezso-14658">Desiderius Orban</a>’s studio. As with other young artists of his generation, he was especially influenced by the experimental approach and intellectual rigour of <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/passmore-john-richard-15023">John Passmore</a>.</p>
<p>He found visual stimulation in <a href="https://www.carlplate.com/">Carl Plate</a>’s Notanda Gallery in Rowe Street, a rare source of information on modern art at the time. Rowe Street was the creative hub for many artists, writers and serious drinkers who later became known as “The Push”. The informal exposure to new ideas on art, literature, food, wine and great conversation was more effective than a university. He learned about Kandinsky, Klee, the beauty of a wandering line, the poetry of Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot.</p>
<p>Olsen’s first media exposure was as the spokesman for art students protesting at the rigid conservatism of the trustees judging the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18514782?searchTerm=John%20Olsen%20art%20student%20National%20Art%20Gallery">Archibald Prize</a>. There were no complaints about the Wynne Prize, which had exhibited his work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. A road to Clarendon - autumn. Winner of the Wynne Prize 1985.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘first’ Australian exhibition of Abstract Expressionism</h2>
<p>The friendship between Olsen and fellow artists William Rose, Robert Klippel, Eric Smith and their mentor John Passmore, led to the exhibition <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/ARC409.1.147/">Direction 1</a> in December 1956. </p>
<p>An art critic’s over enthusiasm led to it being proclaimed as the first Australian exhibition of Abstract Expressionism, and its artists as pioneers of modern art. As a consequence, Robert Shaw, a private collector, paid for Olsen to travel and study in Europe. This was a transformational gift, coming at a time before Australia Council Grants, when travel was expensive.</p>
<p>He travelled first to Paris, then Spain where he based himself in Majorca and supported himself by working as an apprentice chef. The fluid approach to learning he had acquired in Sydney was enhanced in Spain. He saw, and appreciated the <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/t/tachisme">Tachiste</a> artists, but took his own path, remembering always Paul Klee’s dictum that a drawing is “taking a line for a walk”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. Australia, England, Spain, Portugal. 1960.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That Spanish experience was distilled in the exuberant works he painted after his return to Sydney in 1960. <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/OA29.1960.a-c/">Spanish Encounter</a> paid tribute to the impact of this culture that continued to intrigue him, its energy and its apparent irrationality. </p>
<p>But he also found himself enjoying the “honest vulgarity” he found in the Australian ethos, leading to a series of paintings which incorporated the words <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/6124/">you beaut country</a> in their title. Olsen’s confident paintings of the 1960s easily place him as the most influential Australian artist of that decade. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. Summer in the you beaut country. 1962.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery Victoris</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Five Bells and landscape</h2>
<p>In 1972, Olsen was commissioned to paint a giant mural for the foyer of the concert hall at the Sydney Opera House. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/archived/booksandarts/my-salute-to-five-bells:-john-olsen/6721222">Salute to Five Bells</a> takes its name from Kenneth Slessor’s poem of death on the Harbour, but is more about elements of subterranean harbour life. </p>
<p>The heroic scale of the work meant that he worked with a number of assistants to paint the dominant blue ground. When the mural was unveiled in 1973, it received a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/archived/booksandarts/my-salute-to-five-bells:-john-olsen/6721222">mixed response</a>. It was too muted in tone to cope with the Opera House lighting, too sparse in content, too decorative.</p>
<p>In the following years, Olsen turned towards painting the Australian landscape and the creatures that inhabited it. In 1974, he visited Lake Eyre as the once dry giant salt lake flooded to fill with abundant life. He made paintings, drawings and prints of the abundance – both intimate views and overviews from flying over. Lake Eyre and its environs was to be a recurring motif in the art of his later years.</p>
<p>While these works were commercially successful, and many were acquired by public galleries, Olsen was no longer seen as being in the avant garde. He was, however, very much a part of the art establishment and his art was widely collected.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. Five bells. 1963.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A man of his generation</h2>
<p>The aerial perspective of many of his later decorative paintings could seem to have echoes of Aboriginal art. Indeed, when the young <a href="https://abdulabdullah.com/home.html">Abdul Abdullah</a> first saw Olsen’s paintings in 2009 he at first assumed Olsen was an Aboriginal artist. </p>
<p>It was therefore a surprise to many when in 2017 Olsen mounted a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/john-olsen-says-archibald-prize-win-is-the-worst-decision-ive-ever-seen-20170728-gxl4ze.html">trenchant attack</a> on the Wynne Prize after it was awarded to Betty Kunitiwa Pumani for Antara, a painting of her mother’s country.</p>
<p>Despite some visual similarities to his own approach to landscape he claimed her painting existed in “a cloud cuckoo land”. In the same interview, he attacked Mitch Cairns’ Archibald-winning portrait of his wife, Agatha Gothe-Snape, as “just so bad”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-gum-trees-to-cities-to-sweeping-deserts-how-125-years-of-the-wynne-prize-traces-australias-shifting-relationship-to-our-landscape-179764">From gum trees to cities to sweeping deserts: how 125 years of the Wynne Prize traces Australia's shifting relationship to our landscape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While it is not unusual for the radical young to become enthusiastic reactionaries in prosperous old age, there was a particular lack of grace in Olsen’s response to artists who were not a part of his social circle or cultural background. He was in this very much a man of his generation, with attitudes and prejudices that reflect the years of his youth. </p>
<p>Looking at Olsen’s paintings of the 1950s and ‘60s is a reminder that there was a time in Australia when brash young men could prove their intellectual credentials by quoting Dylan Thomas while making a glorious multi-coloured paella in paint.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
Some of the media response to the death of John Olsen has been to proclaim the late artist as a ‘genius’. He was more complex than that.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190734
2022-10-24T01:20:10Z
2022-10-24T01:20:10Z
Fred Williams is known for his landscapes. But his drawings are little pockets of explosive expressive energy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491216/original/file-20221023-35106-9vme03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C8%2C2977%2C2389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fred Williams Australia 1927-82, worked in England 1952-56. Elephant 1953 cont é crayon 25.2 x 31.8 cm (sheet)</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Presented by the Art Foundation of Victoria by Mrs Lyn Williams, Founder Benefactor, 1988 © Estate of Fred Williams</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Fred Williams: The London Drawings, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia</em> </p>
<p>When Fred Williams died on April 22 1982, aged 55, Australia lost one of its <a href="https://theconversation.com/fred-williams-in-the-you-yangs-a-turning-point-for-australian-art-83884">most significant landscape artists</a> of the second half of the 20th century. Williams reinterpreted the landscape within a modernist framework and taught Australians a new way of seeing their natural environment. </p>
<p>Williams had studied art in Melbourne at the National Gallery School and took classes in George Bell’s more progressive <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bell_(painter)">private school</a>. He subsequently spent almost five years in London studying drawing at the School of Art at the Chelsea Polytechnic and took an etching course at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. </p>
<p>He returned to Australia late in 1956. It was then he announced that he would paint the gumtree.</p>
<p>This exhibition of 160 drawings, 12 gouaches and 30 etchings examines Williams’s work before he turned to the gumtree – his figurative work during his London years where he examined the human figure, animals in the zoo and the rich cross-section of theatre life and of life on the streets. </p>
<p>Many of these drawings have never been seen before and are part of a generous gift made to the National Gallery of Victoria by the artist’s widow, Lyn Williams, and family. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491839/original/file-20221026-1498-g7y2wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fred Williams Australia 1927-82, worked in England 1952-56 Drawing related to Vaudeville c. 1954-55 brown conté crayon 20.8 x 28.0 cm (sheet)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Presented by the Art Foundation of Victoria by Mrs Lyn Williams, Founder Benefactor, 1988 © Estate of Fred Williams</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fred-williams-in-the-you-yangs-a-turning-point-for-australian-art-83884">Fred Williams in the You Yangs: a turning point for Australian art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Quickfire sketches</h2>
<p>Fred Williams: The London Drawings shows Williams as few have seen him before, with rapid sketches of models posing at the art school, glimpses of comic scenes on the music hall stages the artist caught from his dimly lit perch in the gods, and faces that he encountered in the street. </p>
<p>He seems to have taken great pleasure in sketching elephants and the big cats in the zoo, as well as images of people at the framing business where he worked, portraits of friends and rural scenes from his occasional trips into the English countryside.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491211/original/file-20221023-64769-hg843g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fred Williams Australia 1927-82, worked in England 1952-56. Drawing for Cheetah c. 1953 black and brown conté crayon 21.0 x 19.4 cm (sheet)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Gift of Lyn Williams AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022 © Estate of Fred Williams</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What is fascinating is not so much the subject matter that caught the attention of this artist in his 20s, but his manner of execution. </p>
<p>Williams, the landscape artist, was certainly an impulsive worker with his idiosyncratic dabs, blobs and dribbles punctuating the surfaces of the canvases, gouaches and etchings. </p>
<p>In the London drawings, Williams appears to be assembling this repertoire of marks with the curious quickfire sketches of random profiles, tumbling arrested action and spectacular and unexpected compositional arrangements. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491212/original/file-20221023-64527-xbn96x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fred Williams Australia 1927-82, worked in England 1952-56. West Wittering IV 1954-55 pen and ink 25.3 x 35.5 cm (sheet)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Gift of Lyn Williams AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022 © Estate of Fred Williams</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Throughout many of the drawings, the desire is to achieve a maximum expressiveness, where his line flirts with caricature, not so much to achieve comic intent but to capture a memorable gesture. The exhibition is studded with little pockets of explosive expressive energy.</p>
<h2>A solitary and unconventional artist</h2>
<p>Williams frequently worked alongside other Australian artists then resident in London, for example, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?artist_id=lymburner-francis">Francis Lymburner</a> with whom he drew at the zoo. </p>
<p>Lymburner was a virtuoso draughtsman. His animal sketches wonderfully convey the wholeness of the creature depicted with an exquisite lucidity of line. </p>
<p>Williams, working next to him, appears not interested in articulating a rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe or lion, but sets out to capture their expressive essence. The viewer is swept along by the power of the drawing – the emotional impact – and not by the articulation of its overall form.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491214/original/file-20221023-64769-k8an67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fred Williams Australia 1927-82, worked in England 1952-56. Gibbon swinging c. 1953 brown conté crayon 39.7 x 25.3 cm (sheet)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Gift of Lyn Williams AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022 © Estate of Fred Williams</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Subsequently, Williams was to employ a similar strategy to the Australian landscape when he returned. In the early <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/fred-williams-the-nattai-river-1958/">Nattai River landscapes</a> and the first <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/61541/">Mittagong series</a> in 1957-58, apart from restructuring the picture plane and titling forward the surface, the expressive vibrancy of the images stems from the expressive expressionistic mark making. </p>
<p>Williams was an unusual and outstanding draughtsman who was obsessive, inventive and enthused by what he discovered in London. Apart from the community of expats that surrounded and to some extent supported him, he was also a solitary and unconventional artist. </p>
<p>From the evidence presented in this extensive exhibition, Williams was not swept along by fashionable trends that inspired the British art world. The artists who appear to have most inspired him at this time were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt">Rembrandt</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor%C3%A9_Daumier">Daumier</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_McNeill_Whistler">Whistler</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas">Degas</a> and some of the <a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_art">Renaissance masters</a>.</p>
<h2>Complete dedication</h2>
<p>From the outset, Williams exhibited a complete dedication to his art and a very measured approach. </p>
<p>He did suffer bouts of melancholy, common to many young artists, but for him art was a process that was not to be hurried. He was prepared to spend a dozen years training in art schools in Melbourne and London before launching on a solo career.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1051&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1051&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491215/original/file-20221023-68927-pnp72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1051&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fred Williams Australia 1927-82, worked in England 1952-56. Drawing for House by Paddington canal 1954-55 conté crayon 25.3 x 18.3 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Gift of Lyn Williams AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022 © Estate of Fred Williams</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The London drawings were an apprenticeship, a training that was to set him up for the challenges that he was to face on his return to Australia. One inevitably wants to speculate whether Williams could have been something more than a landscape painter. </p>
<p>In my discussions with the artist in the final years of his life, it appeared to me that Williams felt that he had mastered the landscape and was ready to return to the grand human narrative. Death ultimately robbed him of that opportunity. </p>
<p><em>Fred Williams: The London Drawings is at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia until January 29.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-blackened-landscapes-are-bad-we-must-learn-to-love-the-right-kind-129547">Not all blackened landscapes are bad. We must learn to love the right kind</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Studying in London, the young artist examined the human figure, animals in the zoo and the rich cross-section of theatre life and of life on the streets.
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191427
2022-10-05T19:02:25Z
2022-10-05T19:02:25Z
Paul Yore: the uncompromising Australian artist riotously tackling queer culture, corporate greed and hyperconsumption
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487445/original/file-20220930-13-ykq6wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3330%2C3210&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Andrew Curtis</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Artist Paul Yore works with found and discarded materials, including other people’s abandoned craft projects. Embroidery threads, braid, cross stitch samplers and quilt pieces – once objects of promise and anticipation – sit forgotten in sewing boxes and bottom drawers, until they are consigned to the op shop or the tip. </p>
<p>Rescuing the residues of other people’s unrealised projects provides Yore with material possibilities and imagined histories. He works these discards together with found texts and images to produce riotous textile works expressing the flux and contestations of contemporary life. </p>
<p>Queer culture, corporate greed, hyperconsumption, Christianity and the police state are tackled without compromise. </p>
<p>In WORD MADE FLESH, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art presents tapestries, appliques, collages and soft sculptures produced over 15 years. This comprehensive survey of Yore’s work is completed by a new commission: an architecturally-scaled pleasure palace constructed from the remnants of societal collapse.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487439/original/file-20220930-24-b906v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also on show is Yore’s intellectual courage and energy, solidly underpinned by anthropological, philosophical and art history knowledge he uses to push against societal and Christian taboos. This pushing against taboos extracted a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/child-pornography-charges-against-artist-paul-yore-dismissed-20141001-10ohd2.html">high personal toll</a> in 2013, when child pornography charges were brought against him for one of his exhibitions. (These charges were later dismissed.)</p>
<p>The curation and design shared between the artist, his partner Devon Ackerman and the gallery’s artistic director Max Delaney maximises the immersive experience of the final work. There is only one way into the exhibition and visitors must traverse four different zones, titled “signs”, “embodiment”, “manifesto” and “horizon”, before they enter WORD MADE FLESH.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pass-the-iced-vovos-the-resurrection-of-australiana-34408">Pass the Iced VoVos: the resurrection of Australiana</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Transgressive signs</h2>
<p>The first space introduces Yore’s practice through small textile works incorporating found texts and aphorisms about politics, gender and sexuality. </p>
<p>The polite media of cross stitching, tapestry and applique – usually associated with patient crafting on laps, hands kept busy to hold the devil at bay – are transformed into a transgressive methodology in form and content. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487937/original/file-20221004-20-rd4fc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Julie Sheils</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The constraints of the repetitive “x” in cross-stitching or restrictions of the tapestry grid that regulate the spacing and length of the stitches are subverted by Yore. </p>
<p>He achieves a visual tension through finely calibrated formal and technical skills.</p>
<p>“Never be queer enough” and “excuse me for feeling” are inserted into traditional bordered formats. The tranquillity of the imaginary drawing room is upended by images of syringes, skulls and <a href="https://time.com/5295476/gay-pride-pink-triangle-history/">pink triangles</a>.</p>
<h2>Embodiment, manifesto and horizon</h2>
<p>The next three spaces chart Yore’s creative development. Rectangular forms are enlarged to become quilts, religious iconography is explored and reimagined and queer lives expressed. </p>
<p>The rich aesthetic of <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-rococo-style-an-introduction">Rococo</a> and <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-baroque-style">Baroque</a> clothing and drapery intersects with the elaborate excesses of drag queen wardrobes. Rectangles are swapped for triangles, reclaiming the symbolism of the pink triangle.</p>
<p>In one of his biggest works, the Darkest Secret of my Heart, the legacies of Australia’s colonial history are obscured by cartoon characters and other pop culture graphics.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487440/original/file-20220930-15-47lk2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Soft sculptures of sexualised hybrid human/cartoon bodies inhabit the gallery at a scale simultaneously confronting and intriguing.</p>
<p>Tucked away in the last room is a temple of irreverence and critique that amplifies the pagan aesthetic of a colonising Catholicism in Africa and Latin America. </p>
<p>Populated by beaded collages of “mature content”, the curtained space melds the atmospherics of a confessional booth and a gay sex bar. </p>
<h2>Societal collapse is nigh.</h2>
<p>Entering from the low lights and institutional critiques in the previous galleries, the new space of WORD MADE FLESH shouts societal collapse from a prefab tower covered with messages.</p>
<p>Scavenged corporate branding jostles with handwritten placards and is camped up with the sparkle of thermal blankets and cute neons. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C3338%2C2232&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C3338%2C2232&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487444/original/file-20220930-26-cp0114.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The inner walls of the tower are lined with banks of screens endlessly looping hyper-illuminated montages of found images and GIFs. SpongeBob SquarePants is a reminder of simpler times.</p>
<p>Anthropomorphic sentinels appear to guard the installation, channelling junkyard Madonnas and marketing deities made from sales detritus.</p>
<p>A geodesic dome lined with handmade crochet blankets and neon symbols offers an unexpected respite. Inside, an elaborate font-like water feature confected from kitsch and plastic penises decorated with shells doubles as a kinetic musical instrument. Straw bales provide seating to contemplate the moving parts and whimsical cacophony. </p>
<p>In the first four galleries, Yore’s textile works built a critique of contemporary times meticulously supported by art historical, philosophical and cultural references. In WORD MADE FLESH he tears it all down and rebuilds a makeshift world made from 21st century junk – except for a hearse covered in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_mosaics">Byzantine-style mosaic</a>. </p>
<p>In a shift back to permanence and precision, this funeral wagon has been immobilised by a lavish coat of glass tiles embellished with images of phalluses and flowers and parting words like “see you in hell”. A keyboard embedded in the side of the vehicle drones out a discordant final chord. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487936/original/file-20221004-22-olgs6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By choosing a material (tiles) and echoing a tradition dating back more than 1,500 years, is Yore hinting at a return to the brutality of the Dark Ages? Having constructed “a queer alternative reality, erected from the wasteland of the Anthropocene”, could he be offering a final ride in a pimped-up hearse?</p>
<p><em>Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH is at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, until November 20.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/barbara-hanrahan-an-australian-feminist-artist-you-need-to-know-166664">Barbara Hanrahan: an Australian feminist artist you need to know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Shiels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
WORD MADE FLESH at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art is a comprehensive survey of this singular artist’s work.
Julie Shiels, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188721
2022-09-20T20:19:44Z
2022-09-20T20:19:44Z
How artists Judy Watson and Helen Johnson are stripping back Australia’s ‘white blanket of forgetfulness’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485217/original/file-20220919-63951-10pn2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C11290%2C7566&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Installation view,
Judy Watson & Helen
Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2022</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his 1980 Boyer Lecture, art historian Bernard Smith said a “white blanket of forgetfulness” had been thrown over the horrors of Australia’s colonial past. </p>
<p>Renowned Australian artists, Waanyi woman Judy Watson and second-generation Anglo immigrant Helen Johnson, have individually spent decades exposing these secrets by translating archival material into paintings, prints and installations. </p>
<p>In a new exhibition, the red thread of history, loose ends, they come together in a visual, and conceptual dialogue of reworked maps, cartoons, proclamations, records and correspondence. </p>
<p>Watson takes charge of the shocking historical material she exposes. No anger or outrage is evident, even though her emotionally charged paintings and installations deal with deaths in custody, genocide or indentured labour. </p>
<p>Instead, she overwrites these crimes and injustices by initiating communal artmaking processes with friends and family or layering them with indigenous plant life and motifs from her country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485459/original/file-20220920-20859-dxnowe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, System maintenance 2021–22 (front), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By contrast, there is an urgency to Johnson’s work. The shocking words in the texts she exposes spill out unedited across large canvases. </p>
<p>Multiple layers are built up with complex textures of raked paint, masking and interpretations of images sourced from archives. The surfaces are then cut and pealed back to reveal hidden and intersecting content: Australians uncovering the true history of colonisation.</p>
<h2>The banality of evil</h2>
<p>Watson exposes the banality of the bureaucratic and institutional language of colonial records.</p>
<p>In Carpentaria, we hear the words of white men from stations located on Watson’s country, who petitioned the “protector” complaining about mandated wages for Aboriginal workers. They wanted to pay them less. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485210/original/file-20220919-60524-4fo7d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, carpentaria petition 1903, signatories, kangaroo grass, feather, cabbage tree palm (badakalinya kanba, wulu, kunda) 2021, volcanic soil, synthetic polymer paint, graphite and waxed linen thread on canvas. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Watson translated their signatures onto canvas and stained it by dancing pigment and volcanic soil into its fibres with her community.</p>
<p>The work is then overlaid with motifs from her country, symbolically referencing her great, great grandmother Rosie’s escape from a massacre.</p>
<p>Watson similarly reasserts her connection to country. With In broken Country, blacks not to be trusted, she has highlighted words on an 1897 ethnographic map, then overpainted with an image of cotton tree fibre string suggesting cultural tracks and trading routes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485211/original/file-20220919-59856-ev5egv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson, broken country, blacks not to be trusted: roth’s sketch map north west central queensland 1897 (jamba, burrurri) 2021, synthetic polymer paint, indigo and graphite on canvas. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shocking words, shocking histories</h2>
<p>A quiet fury sits under Johnson’s layered reinterpretations of the establishment of structures that justified the primacy of white men with racist policies and attitudes.</p>
<p>There is a deliberate brutality in Crises, Johnson’s response to the stories and attitudes reported in the colonial publications The Bulletin and The Police Gazette. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485213/original/file-20220919-66827-igrjib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, Crises 2021–22 (back), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reworking their decorative lettering, she captures a colony obsessed with wealth, fixated on class and preoccupied with law and order. “Complacent”, “cowed”, “ignorant” and “complicit” reflect the crude characteristics of Australian colonial society. </p>
<p>The calligraphy has been updated to include images of contemporary figures such as Scott Morrison and George Pell, alluding to the continuities of Australian history.</p>
<p>Johnson challenges the pomp and glory of federation and the establishment of the first federal parliament to remind us it formalised an ethos of racism and discrimination still felt today.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485212/original/file-20220919-49069-w2r622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, Crises 2021–22 (front), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sitting below reconfigured press images of the time, she introduces a frieze of cartoon-like heads and speech bubbles quoting Hansard records from the first sitting. </p>
<p>Most revealing is Samuel Winter Cooke’s comment: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We must do our best to see that Australia remains as a possession for the white man, and the white man only.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Women’s perspective</h2>
<p>Watson’s interest in matrilineal kinship is realised in a series of paintings using silhouettes of her mother, her sister, her daughter and herself. </p>
<p>She layers topographical maps, flora and other symbols from their country under and over their portraits. Global temperature charts gestures ominously toward the future. </p>
<p>In her chilling video work, Skullduggery (2021), Watson also exposes the callous disregard of “bone enthusiasts” like Agnes Kerr, matron of Burketown Hospital in 1938. </p>
<p>Voiced by Aboriginal readers, Kerr’s letters to London’s Wellcome Museum catalogue the bones of known Aboriginal people she has plundered from burial sites. </p>
<p>Johnson places a birthing woman at the centre of The Birth of an Institution. Surrounded by onlookers including bankers, priests and politicians, the dome of an ornate colonial structure is crowning.</p>
<p>The scale of the building is monstrous. Unlike the waiting stakeholders, the identity of the mother is obscured – she will not be acknowledged for her labour.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485214/original/file-20220919-59856-qtl1dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Johnson, The birth of an institution 2021–22 (front), synthetic polymer paint and pencil on unstretched canvas, double-sided. Commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2021–22. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne. Installation view, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Andrew Curtis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Truth telling</h2>
<p>Addressing colonisation and its legacies is an undertaking white artists often avoid. Many believe it should only be told by First Peoples. </p>
<p>Johnson, however, believes processing the constructs of colonisation is also the work of people who benefit from it. </p>
<p>It was Johnson’s initiative to work with Watson and the ensuing dialogue has produced a complex and nuanced retelling of history. </p>
<p>Their works harness the words of the colonisers to poetically expose blind spots and provide evidence of colonial crimes and cruelties. Once seen, they can never be forgotten.</p>
<p><em>Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends is at Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) until November 12, and will be at Museum of Art and Culture, yapang, NSW from May 2023.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221">Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Shiels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Waanyi woman Judy Watson and second-generation Anglo immigrant Helen Johnson both use archival materials to explore Australia’s violent history.
Julie Shiels, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189448
2022-09-18T20:14:49Z
2022-09-18T20:14:49Z
10 months and hundreds of subjects: how I took portrait photography to the streets of Parramatta
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481522/original/file-20220829-1164-4arxhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C10%2C7064%2C4745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the River City Voices choir perform for a group portrait.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021-2022)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the past ten months, I have photographed hundreds of people in the Western Sydney suburb of Parramatta for a portrait project called <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/c3west/cherine-fahd-parramatta-yearbook/">Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook</a>. </p>
<p>The portraits in the yearbook show the people who live, work and play in Parramatta against the backdrop of an <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/landmark-project-hopes-to-put-the-paris-in-parramatta-20220428-p5agyi.html">ever-changing city</a>.</p>
<p>The way a photographer and subject come together to make a portrait is usually invisible in a portrait. </p>
<p>Here, instead of trying to reveal the elusive individuality of a person, I have been focusing on the social dynamics of portraiture – what happens behind the scenes between me and the people I’m photographing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Collages from the yearbook portray being together in Parramatta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021-2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Daniel Palmer notes in his book <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003103684/photography-collaboration-daniel-palmer">Photography and Collaboration</a>, portraiture is by definition relational and collaborative. That is, the process of photographic portraiture inherently brings the photographer and subjects together to arrive at an image. </p>
<p>In the context of this project, coming together for a portrait creates playful opportunities for social interactions among strangers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I hold my camera phone as a mirror to help a participant apply her lipstick while the audio producer for The Conversation Podcast captures our verbal interaction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021-2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is amazing what strangers will share with me in the space of five minutes. </p>
<p>Two men reveal they are brothers and haven’t seen each other for ten years. </p>
<p>One woman tells me she thinks she’s ugly and asks me to make her look beautiful. </p>
<p>Another keenly describes the floral wonders she is holding from her community garden. </p>
<p>One man whispers that he can’t speak English. </p>
<p>Another tells me he’s in a hurry to go to lunch. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two brothers on the day they are reunited.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021–2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We chat about the everyday things, the weather, COVID, shopping and Rugby League. </p>
<p>There are stories of time spent in jail, and lives being turned around. </p>
<p>New arrivals to Australia speak of their family in lands faraway and citizens who have lived all their lives in Parramatta share insights on the city. </p>
<p>These are the stories photography can’t capture in the silent stillness of the image, but that’s no reason not to continue.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-arts-can-help-us-come-back-together-again-podcast-173803">How the arts can help us come back together again – podcast</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Performing photography</h2>
<p>Setting up a studio in the street and inviting people to pose together in front of the camera is a thing to see. We always had audiences of passersby watching and it wasn’t long before they were also in front of the camera. </p>
<p>If you look closely at the portraits there are talkative details and warm gestures: micro-movements of the body where people touch each other or hold hands; the spaces between our bodies; instances when we are caught by the camera laughing, chatting and applying lipstick.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warm gestures can be seen in the detail of the yearbook’s collages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021–2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I also see myself in action. I am both photographer and subject, a stranger dressed in red, wanting desperately to be with people, to steer them through a photographic moment, to pose and be uncomfortable together. </p>
<p>When people have their portraits made I want to know whether they enjoyed it or found it excruciating and awkward. After the photo is taken, we walk up to the laptop tethered to the camera and look at the photographs. They indicate which portraits they like and hate. I listen and take notes. </p>
<p>Involving people in the selection process creates instant trust. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A video trailer captures the construction workers reviewing their portraits with Pam, the project’s photo assistant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In bringing people together before a camera, I became acutely aware of photography’s potential to foster social inclusion, social participation, visibility and a sense of belonging and connection to one’s place and people.</p>
<p>Photography is something we all do. It is familiar and familial. Group portraits activate a social encounter and conversation, listening and storytelling. </p>
<p>The social experience of photography is also extended through time. After the photographs have been taken and printed, they are displayed as a collage on a large scale photo wall in the heart of Parramatta in Centenary Square. I love watching people looking for themselves or pointing to familiar faces. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Looking for familiar faces on the photo wall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Garry Trinh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As one passerby declared on seeing the photo wall: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thanks for treating everyone the same, like we belong and are as deserving of recognition and dignity as others, instead of excluding us from being visible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This feedback goes to the heart of the project that welcomed people from all walks of life to offer a view of Western Sydney that is far from the media stereotypes. </p>
<p>Fundamentally, the Parramatta Yearbook acts as a model for how cultural institutions and government can work together with artists to record and reflect community, create a sense of belonging and produce narratives about a place in transition that foregrounds the creativity of its citizens ahead of urban development. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drawing-data-i-make-art-from-the-bodily-experience-of-long-distance-running-182762">Drawing data: I make art from the bodily experience of long-distance running</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Parramatta Yearbook portraits are on public display in Parramatta’s Centenary Square until October 3, as well as in a <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/files/documents/C3West_Parramatta_Yearbook__PDF.pdf">88-page downloadable yearbook</a> from the Museum of Contemporary Art.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook is produced and presented by C3West on behalf of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in partnership with Parramatta Artists’ Studios, an initiative of the City of Parramatta.</span></em></p>
Coming together for a portrait creates playful opportunities for social interactions among strangers.
Cherine Fahd, Associate Professor of Visual Communication in the School of Design, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188722
2022-08-24T20:01:57Z
2022-08-24T20:01:57Z
QAGOMA’s Embodied Knowledge is an energetic and inclusive celebration of contemporary Queensland art
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480177/original/file-20220821-2925-rms2jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C13%2C4473%2C5982&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Justene Williams, Australia b.1970. The Vertigoats 2021. Mixed media. Installed dimensions variable. Purchased 2021 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Collection: QAGOMA. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)</em></p>
<p>Drawing together 19 artists and collectives, Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art is a celebration of women, people of colour and LGBTIQA+ artists. All share a connection to Queensland.</p>
<p>Co-curators Ellie Buttrose and Katina Davidson have presented an energetic and inclusive group show. The conversations are varied and important without collapsing into parochial cliché. </p>
<p>The curators cleverly weave multiple interconnecting themes investigating history, memory and self. Embodied Knowledge gives visual form to the complexity and diversity of contemporary art in Queensland. </p>
<p>At the entrance to this exhibition, you are immediately greeted with Kamilaroi and Bigambul artist Archie Moore’s newly commissioned installation in the gallery’s Watermall. Titled Inert State 2022, it consists of pieces of paper gently floating on the surface of the water. </p>
<p>On closer inspection, each document is a coroner’s report. </p>
<h2>Counter-memorials</h2>
<p>In the wake of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-news-media-play-an-important-role-reminding-the-country-that-black-lives-still-matter-161412">Black Lives Matter movement</a>, memorials have become increasingly contested terrain, with artists seeking to challenge the very idea of what a memorial might be.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480172/original/file-20220821-38135-bc8uno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archie Moore, Kamilaroi/Bigambul peoples, Australia b.1970. Inert State (detail) 2022. Found hardcover books,steel, high-density polyethylene, polyurethane foam, microporous polyolefin silica-based paper. Dimensions variable. Commissioned for ‘Embodied Knowledge’ by QAGOMA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: Archie Moore and The Commercial, Sydney. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the 1991 release of the <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/first-australians/royal-commission-aboriginal-deaths-custody">Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody</a> report, more than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/06/beyond-heartbreaking-500-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-royal-commission">500 Indigenous people</a> have died in police custody in Australia. Moore’s installation is a no-nonsense account of the ongoing racial violence in Australia’s prison systems. </p>
<p>Bitterly, this is a memorial in the present tense: Indigenous deaths in custody have not stopped. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-is-a-revolutionary-peace-movement-85449">Black Lives Matter is a revolutionary peace movement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Also working in a counter-memorial mode, Kamilaroi artist Warraba Weatherall critiques museum collections that continue to hold human remains and cultural objects from Weatherall’s Country and its surrounds. </p>
<p>To Know and Possess (2021) is a series of ten memorial plaques cast in bronze. Each plaque is a cast of an original museum record. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480173/original/file-20220821-30405-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warraba Weatherall, Kamilaroi people, Australia b.1987. To know and possess (detail),2021, cast bronze, 10 pieces: 10.1 x 15.2 x 3cm (each). Purchased 2022. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The series sits awkwardly, out of scale on the expansive and otherwise empty gallery wall. </p>
<p>This is entirely the point, Weatherall is interrogating the supposed “<a href="https://www.artforum.com/print/197603/inside-the-white-cube-notes-on-the-gallery-space-part-i-38508">ideological purity</a>” and neutrality of the gallery space and, by extension, the institutional archive. </p>
<p>He reminds the viewer of the violence collecting practices continue to exert on Indigenous peoples. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480490/original/file-20220823-24-j0vkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warraba Weatherall, Kamilaroi people, b.1987. To know and possess (installation view in ‘Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art’, Brisbane, 2022) 2021, Cast bronze, 10 pieces: 10.1 x 15.2 x 3cm (each). Purchased 2022. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art © Warraba Weatherall. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is as if the plaques are deliberately antagonising or waging war with the wall where they are hung.</p>
<p>Callum McGrath’s installation emerges from his ongoing research project investigating and documenting public sites that are memorials for the queer community. </p>
<p>Part travel diary, part images selected from the internet, Responsibilities to time (2019) is presented in a series of leather-bound photo albums. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480174/original/file-20220821-43498-icpinc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Callum McGrath, Australia b. 1995. Responsibilities to time (detail) 2019. Purchased 2021. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy: Callum McGrath</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The scale of McGrath’s work is intimate: he invites the spectator to step in and take a closer look. The frosted page dividers frustrate the viewer’s desire to see. Instead, the viewer is left with absences and gaps. </p>
<p>The work is a potent reminder of how queer histories are made invisible by heteronormative history. By working with amateur photography, McGrath is undermining the archive and its claims to authority. </p>
<h2>A sense of self</h2>
<p>This exhibition cleverly interweaves key moments in the history of <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mabo-decision-and-native-title-74147">native title</a>. </p>
<p>Meriam artist Obery Sambo is from the Torres Strait island of Mer (Murray Island) and a descendent of a long line of master mask and headdress-makers. Here he continues that tradition with his own ornate masks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480175/original/file-20220821-37908-8sxjet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Obery Sambo, Meriams of Mer, Australia b.1970. Sumes Borom (Bush Boar) 2019. Coconut husk, synthetic polymer paint, straw, shells, feathers, seeds, 30 x 34 x 46cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: Obery Sambo / Image courtesy: Umbrella Studios</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1774369">In 1898</a>, the University of Cambridge sponsored a team of anthropologists to travel to the Torres Strait, where they filmed Sambo’s ancestors dressed and dancing for ceremony. </p>
<p>Many years later, the footage was used as evidence of cultural continuity in the Mabo ruling in 1992. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mabo-decision-and-native-title-74147">Australian politics explainer: the Mabo decision and native title</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Working in an entirely different register, Justene Williams’ installation The Vertigoats (2021) consists of a series of mannequins. </p>
<p>Williams has long been associated with the <a href="https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/justene-williams/">grunge aesthetic</a> of Sydney in the 1990s. This work is more disco. With their disproportional limbs, Williams’ figures gleefully dance and cavort across the gallery space. </p>
<p>In her sights is the darker side of the online wellness and fashion industries. The idealised fabrication of our online selves is placed under pressure as the mannequins’ elongated limbs stretch to nightmarish proportions. </p>
<p>In playful dialogue with Williams’ mannequins is Jenny Watson’s series Private views and rear visions (2021-2022). Comprising of 48 paintings displayed along the length of the gallery wall, the work’s scale is commanding. </p>
<p>Watson has painted over printer’s proofs of the exhibition catalogue for a showing of her work <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/art-museum/whats-on/past-exhibitions/jenny-watson-chronicles">in 2016</a>. This creates a curious fold in time: Jenny on Jenny. </p>
<p>Watson is at her performative best: she places the notion of the authentic self under pressure while working in her distinctly confessional mode of address. Watson draws on recurring motifs that have defined her career, such as the lone woman, horses and the playful incorporation of text. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480176/original/file-20220821-41010-9t0pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jenny Watson, Australia b. 1951. Private Views and Rear Visions (detail) 2021. Synthetic polymer paint on printers’ proof. 48 pieces: 100 x 72cm (each).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy: The artist and QAGOMA. Photograph: Natasha Harth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Embodied Knowledge is on display at QAGOMA until January 22.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chari Larsson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art is a celebration of women, people of colour and LGBTIQA+ artists.
Chari Larsson, Senior Lecturer of art history, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/185597
2022-07-27T20:12:38Z
2022-07-27T20:12:38Z
How pioneering Australian linocut artists Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme captured an exciting era of change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475275/original/file-20220721-20-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C2998%2C3491&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ethel Spowers, School is out, 1936, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1976
</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Spowers & Syme, Geelong Gallery.</em></p>
<p>In their pioneering coloured linocut prints, Ethel Spowers (1890-1947) and Eveline Syme (1888-1961) captured the flux and excitement of an era of rapid change. </p>
<p>Their modernist interpretations of Australia in the interwar period have both a complexity and a simplicity. Colour is simultaneously bold and subtle; lines vigorous and delicate. Rhythm, arcs and movement populate their images of everyday spaces, people and places. </p>
<p>Yet, despite initial recognition in their time, Spowers and Syme have been largely forgotten.</p>
<p>Now, a new exhibition meticulously curated by Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax plots their friendship, influences and creative development in the decades after the first world war – a time when new freedoms were afforded to women of their means.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beauty-and-audacity-know-my-name-presents-a-new-female-story-of-australian-art-150139">Beauty and audacity: Know My Name presents a new, female story of Australian art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Discovering a new art form</h2>
<p>Spowers and Syme were childhood friends from rival media families who ran competing newspapers, The Argus and the Age. Spowers studied art and Syme studied classics. As young women, both had developing art practices in painting and printmaking.</p>
<p>They had regularly travelled “abroad” and knew the world beyond Australia was transforming in exciting ways. By the late 1920s, they decided to be part of it. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475281/original/file-20220721-20-lhtf0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ethel Spowers, The bamboo blind, 1926, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1976.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seeking the energy and liveliness of the London art scene, both women left Australia to learn linocut printing from <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/70411">Claude Flight</a> at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. </p>
<p>Linoleum, a new flooring material adopted by artists from 1900, was a cheap and accessible way to make prints. Flight saw the colour linocut print as a modern medium for a modern age: a medium that enabled innovation to respond to the excitement of the times.</p>
<p>Flight revolutionised printmaking in the UK. His work drew on <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/cubism">cubism</a> and <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/futurism">futurism</a>, translating his ideas into multi-coloured linocuts evoking the speed and movement of the machine age. </p>
<p>As a teacher, he generously shared his enthusiasm and knowledge with a talented group of colleagues and students, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Power">Cyril Power</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Andrews">Sybil Andrews</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lill_Tschudi">Lill Tschudi</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475282/original/file-20220721-25-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eveline Syme, Skating, 1929, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1979.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Estate of Eveline Syme</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Grosvenor School artists regularly exhibited their lino prints throughout the interwar years, and a small survey of their work is displayed in the heart of the exhibition. Paired with a cluster of Ethel Spowers’ prints of irrepressible children – swinging, leaping, jumping and jostling – this inclusion contrasts and contextualises the diversity of mark, method and subject matter.</p>
<h2>Urban transformation</h2>
<p>While Flight used curved lines and fragmented colours to evoke speed, on their return to Melbourne, Spowers and Syme developed a more subtle language of movement. Their work would capture the everydayness of change in urban landscapes and industrial sites, workers, child’s play and still life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475276/original/file-20220721-20-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eveline Syme, The factory, 1933, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1979,</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Estate of Eveline Syme</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Syme’s scenes of trams, roads, factories and bridges embrace and celebrate urban transformation. The factory (1933) has a diminutive solitary figure purposefully striding past sinuous trees bending in the opposite direction set against a backdrop of vibrant green chimneys and belching orange smoke. </p>
<p>Produced from four differently carved pieces of lino and printed in four different colours, the subtlety of movement, patterns and extended palette are achieved by overprinting in transparent inks or paint. The background sky is the colour, texture and translucency of the oriental paper the work is printed on.</p>
<p>In Sydney tram line (1936), simple line work and blocks of colour send the eye across and up the image capturing the encroachment of industry and transport on a rather luscious green landscape.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475277/original/file-20220721-26-7q78pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eveline Syme, Sydney tram line, 1936, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1979.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Estate of Eveline Syme</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The movement of people</h2>
<p>Spowers’ linocuts capture momentary effects on people: rain pelting on a huddle of umbrellas, a frozen moment in children’s play and a rush of wind scattering sheets of paper.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475278/original/file-20220721-13-pc9lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ethel Spowers, The gust of wind, 1930, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1976.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In The Gust of Wind (1931), a newspaper-seller struggles to control his copies of the evening news. Arcs and rhythmic movements emphasise the futility of the worker’s attempts to contain the breakout.</p>
<p>Special Edition (1936) is a sea of newspapers, all firmly in the control of a phalanx of anonymous and obscured readers. The qualities of the oriental tissue paper are again employed as an intrinsic part of the image. The newspapers are defined by slender lines and the heads of readers blur into featureless anonymity. </p>
<p>Both remind us of Spowers’ family connection to the publishing industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475305/original/file-20220721-21-9xt178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ethel Spowers, Special edition, 1936, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A sense of optimism</h2>
<p>While it is exciting to contemplate and celebrate the very long friendship between Spowers and Syme – an alliance that enabled them both to pursue careers as professional artists – their works also give us a sense of their class and privilege. </p>
<p>Spowers’ surging newspaper readers and striding children all appear to be barrelling towards the future with confidence despite the Great Depression and the growing threat of fascism. </p>
<p>The demeanour is one of optimism, innocence, humour or cheerful bravura and the realities of their time largely overlooked. Like many educated women of their means, social responsibilities were acquitted through philanthropy. Syme, known for her commitment to women’s education reform, and Spowers to women’s and children’s hospitals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475279/original/file-20220721-18-salr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ethel Spowers, Bank holiday, 1935, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1976.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spowers and Syme made prints about a modernising Australia. They employed new materials and printing techniques, drawing on modernist art styles and influences to express their enthusiastic embrace of change. Movement is key and the combination of simple forms and dynamic, rhythmic lines animate the linocuts. </p>
<p>These qualities make reproductions easy to apprehend in print or online, however much of the luminosity, and unexpected nuances are lost and can only be truly appreciated in person.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475280/original/file-20220721-11-h7fwgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eveline Syme, Beginners’ class, 1956, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1992.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Estate of Eveline Syme</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spowers & Syme offers a rich encounter with their imagery and their lives, where colour and line come to life, opening up an exciting era of transformation and change in Australian art.</p>
<p><em>Spowers & Syme is a National Gallery of Australia touring exhibition, at Geelong Gallery until October 16.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Shiels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Their modernist interpretations of Australia in the interwar period have both a complexity and a simplicity.
Julie Shiels, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/183822
2022-06-21T01:06:53Z
2022-06-21T01:06:53Z
At Ngununggula, the Southern Highlands new regional gallery, audiences come face-to-face with uneasy contemporary art
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468903/original/file-20220615-11-mq8zyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8918%2C5910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zan Wimberley/Ngununggula</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Land Abounds, Ngununggula</em></p>
<p>Ngununggula (pronounced Nun-uhn-goola), in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, at first appears to be the most contradictory of contemporary art spaces. The reconfigured dairy is a part of <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/retford-park/">Retford Park</a>, the grand estate bequeathed by <a href="https://nga.gov.au/about-us/obituaries/james-fairfax/">James Fairfax</a> to the National Trust. </p>
<p>The gallery, designed by <a href="https://www.tzg.com.au/people/brian-zulaikha/">Brian Zulaikha</a>, places the new so that it sits gracefully with the old.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ngununggula.com/program/entry-pavilion-commission">entrance pavilion</a> shows Quandamooka artist Megan Cope who worked with the local Aboriginal community to create an installation to celebrate their language and culture. </p>
<p>Director Megan Monte aims to embed connections between land, place and people into all Ngununggula’s activities. These are not limited to art. People come for Yoga and Tai Chi classes, and stay for coffee and art. Children are welcome both as participants in Saturday art classes and to visit on school excursions. </p>
<p>Local artist Ben Quilty was involved in the considerable networking and fundraising to get a gallery of this scale built. One of his original motivations was realising his children had to travel to Canberra or Sydney to see art exhibitions. </p>
<p>The exhibition program ranges from a survey of the local artist John Olsen, to the intellectual and emotional challenge of the current exhibition, <a href="https://ngununggula.com/program/land-abounds-aat">Land Abounds</a>.</p>
<h2>A place for new and old art</h2>
<p>James Fairfax is rightly remembered as the visionary chair of John Fairfax & Sons, the man who presided over The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The National Times and the Australian Financial Review when they published some of the best journalism this country has seen. </p>
<p>In 2011, Fairfax commissioned a heritage assessment of Retford Park, originally built as the country estate of <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hordern-samuel-3916">Samuel Hordern</a>. After he had bought it in 1964, Fairfax had restored the house and landscaped the gardens, but paid no attention to the dairy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469882/original/file-20220620-14-6atecd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The gallery is housed in an old dairy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tamara Dean/Ngununggula</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For over 30 years local residents had been agitating for a regional gallery, a place to show new art, as well as old. </p>
<p>Local artist Ben Quilty may be best known for <a href="https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/quilty/">his art</a>, but he has another talent – networking. He knows how connections between people work, and with a disarming smile, can convince people of the reasonable nature of his vision.</p>
<p>The National Trust was persuaded the old dairy and veterinary clinic, at risk of deterioration, was the ideal site for a functioning art gallery. The local Wingecarribee Shire Council and the state government were persuaded to join the partnership. The distinguished heritage architects <a href="http://www.tzg.com.au">Tonkin Zulaikha Greer</a> undertook a feasibility study to show all was possible.<a href="https://www.ngununggula.com/support/our-donors">Private donors</a>, including the James Fairfax Foundation, completed the picture.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-10-photography-exhibitions-that-defined-australia-166755">Friday essay: 10 photography exhibitions that defined Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Artists as outsiders</h2>
<p>Two artist brothers: Abdul Abdullah and Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, living on opposite sides of the country, have bounced their work against that of one of their most admired artists, <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/tracey-moffatt-2669">Tracey Moffatt</a>, in particular the movie montages she made in conjunction with Gary Hillberg. </p>
<p>Abdul-Rahman has described the exhibition as “an ongoing conversation between the practices of my brother and I, brought to bear on the enduring legacy of Tracey Moffatt.” </p>
<p>They see their work as being profoundly influenced by the way she elegantly confronts the big questions of race and cultural difference mainstream society prefers to ignore. </p>
<p>Abdul Abdullah has said, “I have felt that my entire practice was influenced by seeing her work Other at the 2011 Singapore Biennale.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469883/original/file-20220620-17-uneqoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The exhibition sees the work of Abdul Abdullah and Abdul-Rahman Abdullah in conversation with the art of Tracey Moffatt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zan Wimberley/Ngununggula</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The brothers first met Moffatt in 2014, participating in her work <a href="https://art.base.co/event/7199-tracey-moffattart-calls">Art Calls</a>, and as Abdul Abdullah describes it, they “have been friends ever since”. </p>
<p>Visitors to the exhibition can see video conversations with the brothers, next to a screening of Moffatt’s <a href="https://vimeo.com/416454021">Doomed</a> (2007), reworking catastrophe.</p>
<p>The sense of unease is accelerated in Abdul-Rahman’s <a href="https://abdulrahmanabdullah.com/artwork/4270317-The-Dogs-Abdul-Rahman-Abdullah.html">The Dogs</a>, where a pack of black carved animals appear to race toward the viewer, teeth bared, their savagery emphasised by the glittering chandeliers that hang above them, telling the viewer to go away. </p>
<p>Although the Abdullah brothers are the seventh generation of their family to be Australians, their Muslim faith and names continue place them as perpetual outsiders.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469884/original/file-20220620-14-12qytg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a sense of unease throughout the works on display.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zan Wimberley/Ngununggula</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Abdul-Rahman Abdullah’s carved animals have a frightening reality. His <a href="https://abdulrahmanabdullah.com/home.html">Dead Horse</a> lying on the hard gallery floor, evokes pity for its state. The artist sees its many possibilities:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A horse is many things; a trophy, a companion, a resource. <br>
A dead horse is many things; a tragic failure, a half tonne of pet food, a senseless repetition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The horse’s isolation is emphasised by being placed in front Abdul Abdullah’s epic work, Legacy assets, a ten metres long painted panorama of the pastoral ideal. This classic landscape of the Southern Highlands, fields and trees with a river running through it, is countered by the stark white printing of the artist’s message: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>WHAT WOULD OUR PUBLIC COLLECTIONS LOOK LIKE IF WE DIVESTED THEM OF SEX PESTS AND PAEDOPHILES?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is no comfort here. Abdullah has long been concerned that “the projection of genius on deeply flawed individuals was used to justify and obfuscate abhorrent behaviour”. </p>
<p>This is a painting to make us ask whether the aesthetic ends ever justify the means. Can the price of beauty be too high? Is the language of art a “language of entitlement”?</p>
<p>On the opposite wall Tracey Moffatt screens <a href="https://vimeo.com/39552060">Other</a> (2009), wittily mocking the exploitation of people of colour in popular American cinema.</p>
<p>The name Ngununggula, in the language of the local Gundungurra people, translates as “belonging”. It works.</p>
<p><em>Land Abounds is at Ngununggula until July 24.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-abdul-rahman-abdullahs-pretty-beach-a-fever-of-stingrays-becomes-a-meditation-on-suffering-114427">In Abdul-Rahman Abdullah's Pretty Beach, a fever of stingrays becomes a meditation on suffering</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has received funding from the Australian Research Council </span></em></p>
Land Abounds, created for Ngununggula in the heart of NSW’s Southern Highlands questions the comfort of the Australian landscape tradition
Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/183635
2022-06-06T05:13:05Z
2022-06-06T05:13:05Z
How the art of Daniel Boyd turns over the apple cart of accepted white Australian history
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467078/original/file-20220606-58793-56wtb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C1685%2C2556&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Daniel Boyd, Sir No Beard, 2007. Oil on canvas 183.5 x 121.5 cm. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, gift of Clinton Ng 2012, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 378.2012.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins © Daniel Boyd</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Daniel Boyd’s solo exhibition Treasure Island, now on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, is a deeply political and personal interrogation of Australia’s colonial history. </p>
<p>Boyd is a Kudjala, Ghungalu, Wangerriburra, Wakka Wakka, Gubbi Gubbi, Kuku Yalanji, Yuggera and Bundjalung man, with ni-Vanuatu heritage. His work knocks over the apple cart of accepted white Australian history and presents the tumbled mess of bruised fruit. </p>
<p>For many, the true tales of racism, exploitation and violence towards First Nations people in Australia will not be a surprise, but Boyd charges the data with emotion and affect. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467077/original/file-20220606-58910-k3n8r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Boyd, Treasure Island, 2005. Oil on canvas 175 x 200 cm. Collection of James Makin, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: courtesy James Makin Gallery © Daniel Boyd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the featured artworks presents a large Aboriginal map showing multiple language group areas, and with the words “Treasure Island” across its flank. This refers to the imperial notion of Australia as <a href="https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/mabo-native-title/">Terra Nullius</a>, a land of free resources to steal or extract.</p>
<p>Drawing on iconic tales of Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20707499">collector</a> of what Boyd describes as “Pacific fetish objects”) and countless ethnographic images from archives, Boyd creates his disruptions. </p>
<p>The works on display reflect the range of Boyd’s critical inquiry into the cosmos, patterned navigational maps, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave">Plato’s cave</a> allegory and dark matter in space and history. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467083/original/file-20220606-20-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Boyd, Untitled (WWDTCG) 2020. Oil, charcoal, pastel and archival glue on canvas.
87 x 87 cm. Collection of Anthony Medich, Sydney.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Luis Power, courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney © Daniel Boyd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The transference of knowledge</h2>
<p>We Call Them Pirates Out Here (2006) presents the viewer with a familiar image of Cook’s first landing at <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/endeavour-voyage/kamay-botany-bay">Kamay</a> (Botony Bay), in 1770. Boyd re-presents Cook as a pirate, unlawfully stealing unceded land. </p>
<p>In Boyd’s hands the scene becomes chaotic rather than messianic. But the stain of power is still there. </p>
<p>The false truth can be disrupted, but the violence has already been done. De-colonialism has not yet been achieved. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C2544%2C2096&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C2544%2C2096&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467075/original/file-20220606-58967-c54dkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Boyd, We call them pirates out here, 2006. Oil on canvas, 226 x 276 x 3.5 cm. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia,Sydney, purchased with funds provided by the Coe and Mordant families 2006. 2006.25.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: AGNSW, Jeni Carter © Daniel Boyd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/terra-nullius-interruptus-captain-james-cook-and-absent-presence-in-first-nations-art-129688">Terra nullius interruptus: Captain James Cook and absent presence in First Nations art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I asked Daniel Boyd if non-Indigenous people will ever be able to understand life in the same way that First Nations people do – as multiple and complex, as holistic and connected and as poetic? He replied:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>when Indigenous people situate themselves with place, with the sea, the land and the sky, then that knowledge can be transferred.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Boyd’s exhibition is exactly that transference of knowledge to audiences. He presents a middle room of artworks dedicated to the period of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-the-caribbean-to-queensland-re-examining-australias-blackbirding-past-and-its-roots-in-the-global-slave-trade-158530">blackbirding</a>” in Australia, where people from South Sea Islands were brought to Queensland as slave labour to work on sugarcane plantations. </p>
<p>Boyd tells me that his own great-great-grandfather Samuel Pentecost was forcibly taken from Malakula Island, Vanuatu, and brought to Queensland to work for no pay. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467080/original/file-20220606-20-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Boyd, Untitled (BGTJS), 2017. Oil, ink and archival glue on polycotton. 273 x 213 cm. Private collection, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Jessica Maurer, courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney © Daniel Boyd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>On the backs of slaves</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=27600">Secret Cures of Slaves</a>, historian Londa Schiebinger writes about slaves being tossed into mass graves at the end of cotton or sugarcane rows if they died from exhaustion or malnutrition on site. I’ve read of slaves being only fed bananas or <a href="https://www.ourhouseplants.com/plants/dieffenbachia">dumb cane</a> which made their tongues swell and stopped verbal backlash. </p>
<p>As Boyd tells me, the Queensland economy was built on the backbone of free labour of First Nations and Pacific Island peoples. Wages were stolen and people were exploited. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467081/original/file-20220606-26-et6p7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Boyd, Untitled (KCE) 2013. Oil, charcoal and archival glue on linen 223.5 x 447 cm. Private collection, Sydney.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Ivan Buljan, courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney © Daniel Boyd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Along with domestic servitude, this free labour created capital and profit for generations of white Australians.</p>
<p>Boyd continues these disturbing tales with a painting of an imperial ship, full of produce. The artist tells me that Joseph Banks “discovered” Tahitian breadfruit as a useful species to feed to plantation slaves, so the breadfruit was transported aboard the Bounty ship to Jamaica, another site of plantation slavery. </p>
<p>The brutality continued through Australian history and in Boyd’s own family lineage. Samuel’s son, Boyd’s great-grandfather, was stolen from his parents up in Mossman Gorge and taken to <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/firstnations/cultural-awareness-heritage-arts/community-histories/community-histories-u-y/community-histories-yarrabah">Yarrabah Mission</a>.</p>
<p>Boyd transfers an image of Harry Mossman, photographed by anthropologist Norman Tindale, for this exhibition. This is one of the most unadorned and plain portraits of the exhibition: it has a calm, proud and direct appeal.</p>
<h2>Adjusting our focus</h2>
<p>Boyd’s use of tiny glue dots on the surface of his artworks references traditional painting but also acts as lenses. These adjust our focus and help us see the true stories, painful and sorrowful and shameful as they are. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467082/original/file-20220606-24-7fwow4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Boyd, Untitled (PI3), 2013. Oil and archival glue on linen. 214 x 300 cm. Private collection, Bowral.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Jessica Maurer, courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney © Daniel Boyd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They are emblematic of the way light (western knowledge) can blind us from what we need to see (Black truth). The mostly white dots are portals to better see the hidden stories.</p>
<p>Boyd’s art dispels white Australian propaganda that erases information about slavery, the stolen generation and the early years of white settlement. He encourages audiences to see the true stories lurking in the shadows. </p>
<p>It’s not easy, but facing the truth is the first step to decolonising our Australian history. </p>
<p><em>Daniel Boyd Treasure Island is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until January 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prudence Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Daniel Boyd’s solo exhibition Treasure Island, now at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, is a deeply political and personal interrogation of Australia’s colonial history.
Prudence Gibson, Author and Research Fellow, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179771
2022-05-13T05:37:58Z
2022-05-13T05:37:58Z
‘I can’t think of a more timely painting’: Blak Douglas’s Moby Dickens is a deserving winner of the 2022 Archibald Prize
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462944/original/file-20220513-14-jejm0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C10%2C2371%2C3631&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Winner Archibald Prize 2022, Blak Douglas Moby Dickens, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 300 x 200 cm </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2020, the year Vincent Namatjira was awarded the Archibald for his <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2020/30235/">double portrait with Adam Goodes</a>, I was also impressed by the painting hanging next to it, Blak Douglas’ (aka Adam Hill) <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2020/30215/">Writing in the Sand</a>. It was both passionately political and visually very clever, incorporating the speech that the 12-year-old Dujuan Hoosan gave to the United Nations. </p>
<p>One of the many unwritten rules of the Archibald is that the winner is often an artist who has exhibited an outstanding (non-winning) work in previous years. </p>
<p>But this year, Blak Douglas’s winning portrait is the standout entry, head and shoulders above the rest. </p>
<p>It is not just the subject that makes it significant and topical, although that helps. Karla Dickens, a Wiradjuri woman, lives in Bundjalung Country in northern New South Wales. </p>
<p>When the prize was announced, Dickens described herself as “a grumpy white sperm whale in muddy water ready to rip the leg off any fool with a harpoon who comes too close”. </p>
<p>The people of Lismore and surrounding districts have every reason to be enraged at the politicians who come with platitudes instead of help. The people are left to wade through muddy waters with leaky buckets. Dickens herself harboured three homeless families in the immediate aftermath of the floods.</p>
<p>Douglas has painted Dickens standing under a dark grey sky patterned with 14 stylised clouds, symbolising the 14 days of continuous rain that brought the floods. </p>
<p>Douglas’s style owes a great deal to commercial art. The subject is outlined in black for emphasis, even the mud forms a pattern. Dickens stands full frontal, scowling at the viewer, uncompromising in her anger at the folly that has led to this mass destruction. Her feet are concealed by mud, the kind of sludge that still fills and stinks the houses as people try to survive. </p>
<p>I can’t think of a more timely painting, as it so effectively encapsulates the current mood of the country.</p>
<p>In his acceptance speech, Blak Douglas noted he has spent “20 years of taking a risk” before he stood on the winners podium with a prize of $100,000. He reminded the gathering of media and patrons that, especially in recent years, the lives of artists are both hard and uncertain. Not all are winners.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-archibald-2022-finalists-sitters-speaking-up-to-power-artists-speaking-back-to-the-canon-179770">The Archibald 2022 finalists: sitters speaking up to power; artists speaking back to the canon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Wynne Prize</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winner Wynne Prize 2022, Nicholas Harding Eora, oil on linen, 196.5 x 374.8 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nicholas Harding, who has been awarded the Wynne Prize is not an Indigenous artist, but his painting, Eora, also references Australia’s Aboriginal heritage. </p>
<p>The subject is based on the Narrabeen Lakes walk, north of Sydney. It is one of the largest works exhibited. Harding’s characteristic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impasto">impastoed</a> surface evokes the lush vegetation of the land before the colonists came to fell the trees and kill the ferns.</p>
<p>Interestingly the painting was not painted for the prize but as a commission for two private collectors who are long-term admirers. Harding is a nine time finalist in the Wynne, and says the decision to enter was “a last minute thing”. </p>
<p>His hesitation is understandable as every year, even being hung can be a bit of a lottery.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-gum-trees-to-cities-to-sweeping-deserts-how-125-years-of-the-wynne-prize-traces-australias-shifting-relationship-to-our-landscape-179764">From gum trees to cities to sweeping deserts: how 125 years of the Wynne Prize traces Australia's shifting relationship to our landscape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Sulman Prize</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winner Sulman Prize 2022, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro Raiko and Shuten-dōji, acrylic gouache, jute and tape on helicopter shell, 159.5 x 120 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Archibald and the Wynne are judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW. Not so the Sulman Prize, which was established as a bequest of Sir John Sulman – one of the Gallery’s most conservative trustees. The brief is for a “subject or genre painting”, but over the years that distinction has become meaningless. </p>
<p>Because it is judged by a different person every year, its outcome is less predictable. </p>
<p>It is worth noting that this year, 69% of the Sulman entries were by artists who had never before been hung. This is in marked contrast to the Archibald (27%) and Wynne (50%) finalists. </p>
<p>As is common practice this year’s judge, Joan Ross, was a previous winner and is also an Archibald finalist. </p>
<p>The winner is unusually a duo – Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro – who formed their artistic collaboration when they were undergraduate students. Over the last 20 years they have created installations both large and small, including at the Venice Biennale.</p>
<p>Raiko and Shuten-doji is painted on a piece of an army surplus helicopter, so that the Japanese legend of the warrior Raiko and the demon Shute-doji can be viewed through the lens of military conflict. But then they turn it back into a kite: a playful thing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has received funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
This year’s winning Archibald Prize portrait, Moby Dickens by Blak Douglas, encapsulates the justifiable rage felt by people living in flooded Bundjalung country
Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175840
2022-02-28T19:24:37Z
2022-02-28T19:24:37Z
Politics, pioneers, performance: 50 years of Australian women’s art and feminist ideas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447983/original/file-20220223-13-umhyj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=523%2C49%2C4193%2C1895&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Soda_Jerk TERROR NULLIUS, 2018
digital video/duration:54 minutes
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy the artists</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the first century of the third millennium, art by women is finally being regarded with the seriousness it deserves. Last year the National Gallery of Australia presented <a href="https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au">Know My Name</a>, a mammoth exhibition in two parts. Anne Marsh covers similar territory in <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/doing-feminism-hardback">Doing Feminism</a>, her compilation of women’s art and feminist ideas made, for the most part, in the last 50 years.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Doing Feminism: Women’s art and feminist criticism in Australia - Anne Marsh (The Miegunyah Press)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>She describes her book as “the history of the relationship between avant-garde positions and feminism as it emerged in the visual arts in Australia”. Marsh does not claim to have written an all encompassing history of the complex nature of art by women, which was <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/joan-kerr-2/biography/">Joan Kerr</a>’s great undertaking in <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2011519">Heritage</a> (1995).</p>
<p>Nor does the book seek to retrieve forgotten women artists hidden away in storage rooms of public galleries, which was <a href="https://sites.research.unimelb.edu.au/cova/home/people/centre-fellows/janine-burke">Janine Burke</a>’s achievement in the 1970s. Rather Marsh is tracking the contribution of her own generation of artists and writers to feminist avant-garde art and ideas. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447989/original/file-20220223-23-1nhnspr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judy Watson the guardians 1986-87 5 figures each 180 x 58 cm (irregular) powder pigment on plywood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW - purchased 1990.© Judy Watson: Licensed by Copyright Agency</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those who doubt the extent of the change that has swept through our culture need only look at <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/the-field-revisited/">The Field</a>, the exhibition that opened the 1968 National Gallery of Victoria building. Of the 40 artists shown in this celebration of colour field abstraction, only three were women. </p>
<p>It is unfortunate that Marsh has made a significant error in her description of The Field, which implies that it came from the curatorial vision of <a href="https://about.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/file/0029/15788/mccaughey.pdf">Patrick McCaughey</a>, author of one of the catalogue essays. The exhibition curators, who are not named, were Brian Finemore and John Stringer. She also writes that McCaughey was then the gallery director. McCaughey did become director of the NGV, but that happened in 1981, not 1968.</p>
<p>In 1973, five years after The Field, the Art Gallery of NSW celebrated the opening of the Sydney Opera House with a large survey exhibition <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/recent-australian-art/">Recent Australian Art</a>. The only work by a woman was Ewa Pachucka’s <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Ewa%20Pachucka&searchIn=artistOrCulture&searchIn=title&searchIn=medium&uniqueId=14870">Landscape and Bodies</a>. The catalogue misspelt her name.</p>
<p>Neither of these exhibitions included work by Aboriginal artists, nor artists of non-European descent. The world, including the world of art, has indeed changed. </p>
<p>While Marsh maps these changes as they concern women artists, she does not ignore the other changes swirling in Australian culture concerning women. Significantly she charts the importance of those Aboriginal artists including Brenda L. Croft, Fiona Foley Judy Watson and Julie Gough whose art also makes them visual historians, recovering the past through art.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/julie-goughs-tense-past-reminds-us-how-the-brutalities-of-colonial-settlement-are-still-felt-today-118923">Julie Gough's 'Tense Past' reminds us how the brutalities of colonial settlement are still felt today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Walking and chewing gum</h2>
<p>The 1975 visit to Australia of the American critic <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/critic/lippard-lucy/">Lucy Lippard</a> is sometimes claimed to be the “official” beginning of the Australian feminist art movement. Marsh rightly refutes this. </p>
<p>Second wave feminism in Australia emerged during the 1960s within a culture that also saw opposition to the war in Vietnam, conscription of young men to fight that war, sexual liberation and access by women to contraception and abortion. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447987/original/file-20220223-25-8frcry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vivienne Binns Vag Dens, 1967 122 x 91.5 X 2.5 cm. painting: synthetic polymer paint and enamel on composition board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Australia. Courtesy the artist and Sutton Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Vivienne Binns’ 1967 solo exhibition at Sydney’s Watters Gallery was the first exhibition by a woman artist to fully enrage the art critics, all of whom were male. </p>
<p>Binns’ works <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Vivienne%20Binns&searchIn=artistOrCulture&searchIn=title&searchIn=medium&uniqueId=177495">Phallic Monument</a>, <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Binns&searchIn=artistOrCulture&uniqueId=116421">Vag Dens</a> and <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?keyword=Binns&searchIn=artistOrCulture&uniqueId=40748">Suggon</a> threatened their fragile egos. While Marsh notes that Binns was close to fellow Pop artist <a href="https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/mike-brown-1938">Mike Brown</a>, sadly there is no mention of <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/pat-larter/personal_details/">Pat Larter</a>, another friend of Binns who operated in the same context and whose own performance art was even more anarchic. Larter was a <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/artists-by-art-movement/mail-art#!#resultType:masonry">mail artist</a>, who coined the term “Femail art” for her postal adventures. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-pat-larter-pioneering-femail-artist-who-gave-men-the-playboy-treatment-119804">Hidden women of history: Pat Larter, pioneering 'femail' artist who gave men the Playboy treatment</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Marsh concludes that Binns was “more clearly a pioneer of the pop avant-garde” than a feminist pioneer. Bearing in mind the range of other artists celebrated throughout the book, this is a tricky argument.</p>
<p>Feminism has always flourished alongside other concerns – including politics and the environment. Some of the most interesting images in Marsh’s book come from those women artists who protested against the US intelligence gathering installation at Pine Gap.</p>
<p>The ability of women artists to walk and chew gum at the same time is described in Lippard’s 1997 essay on the late feminist activist <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-art-has-lost-two-of-its-greats-vale-ann-newmarch-and-hossein-valamanesh-175435">Ann Newmarch</a>, which is reprinted in full. The feminism of this generation of women artists was never separate from either rigorous philosophical debate or activism in other fields.</p>
<p>By moving the bulk of her concerns to the period after 1975, Marsh is able to focus on artists whose careers coincide with the time-frame of her own professional life. Even so it is a huge task to map both feminist art and feminist writers over such a long period, at time when the world changed and the once marginal became mainstream.</p>
<p>Marsh’s research methodology is best described as organic, reaching out through known networks and associations to collate records of art, events and ideas. This could reasonably be described as an academic incarnation of the approach used by the collectives that were the driving forces in 1970s feminist movements.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447993/original/file-20220223-17-7zl0u7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At times the material is so rich in content that it threatens to overwhelm. Because of her history as an activist both in the Women’s Art Movement in Adelaide and later as a part of the Lip collective in Melbourne, Marsh has a long association with many of the artists and writers included. A number of archival photographs place her at some of the more interesting events in women’s art activities in both cities during the 1970s and 80s. </p>
<p>In order to correct this bias towards the personal, Marsh has made a conscious effort to include artists from Tasmania, Fremantle, Perth and Brisbane. Some of these inclusions are uneven. </p>
<p>While political poster art as nurtured by artists at Sydney’s Tin Sheds, is given due prominence, there is no mention of the very lively poster art fostered by Griffith University’s Margaret Bonnin. Yet the Brisbane political posters were a crucial part of the creative response to Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s oppressive political regime.</p>
<p>Marsh rightly identifies the significance of Ngurra (camp/home/country), a collaboration between Dolly Nampijinpa Daniels and Anne Mosey. This is listed as being exhibited at the Biennale of Sydney and the University of South Australia. Yet the work was first developed when the two artists worked together at Yuendumu’s Night Patrol and was exhibited at Alice Spring’s very lively women’s collective, <a href="https://www.wts.org.au">Watch This Space</a>.</p>
<h2>Old friends and absences</h2>
<p>Readers who visited the NGA’s Know My Name exhibitions will recognise many old friends on the pages. <a href="https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au/artists/frances-budden-phoenix/">Frances Phoenix</a>, who spent most of her life in relative obscurity, is again recognised as the pioneering feminist of sexual and political activism that she was. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beauty-and-audacity-know-my-name-presents-a-new-female-story-of-australian-art-150139">Beauty and audacity: Know My Name presents a new, female story of Australian art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Ann Newmarch’s iconic poster Women Hold Up Half the Sky is once more reproduced – this time matched with a photographic record of Nat Thomas’s tribute performance, mimicking the subject matter.</p>
<p>There are some great photographic records of past events and performances, including Jo Darbyshire and Michelle Elliot’s Chile’s Art Stains Bond’s Art: Guerrilla Girls Say Boycott, a record of the 1989 protest against Alan Bond’s links to Chile’s Pinochet regime. <a href="http://www.barbaracleveland.com.au">Barbara Cleveland</a>, from a later generation of activist performance artists, continues to show how the personal can become political.</p>
<p>Because of the range and variety of artists and writers whose work is discussed, the book presents an organisational challenge. The chosen solution has been to divide it into two parts, listing all names at the beginning of each section, then subdividing further by decade and theme. Sometimes this works, as with the Bad Mothers’ Collective of the 1980s who happily contest any sentiment concerning mother and child relationships in the chapter “Mother and child: discourse and dialogue since 1979”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447988/original/file-20220223-23-1xqscyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bad Mothers at their group exhibition at the Tin Sheds, Sydney, 1987. Raewyn Turner, Charlotte Clemens, Diane Beavers, Nicole Newman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographer unknown. Digitization and compositing: Eliza Dyball. Courtesy: Charlotte Clemens</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other sections are less satisfactory, especially as most art movements don’t easily divide by gender. The section on murals privileges Geoff Hodge’s 1981 Parkville community based mural projects, rightly seeing the way such events could evolve into projects breaking down barriers of gender and culture.</p>
<p>Yet there is no mention of some of Australia’s most interesting urban community based murals, those made by Merilyn Fairskye and Michiel Dolk in consultation with the people of <a href="https://www.cityartsydney.com.au/artwork/15-women-woolloomooloo/">Woolloomooloo</a>, planned in 1979 and finally completed in 1982. These tributes to the ordinary people of what was once a slum, who fought to save their suburb from the developers – and won, are so well known as public works of art that their omission is surprising.</p>
<p>It is however understandable that oversights will occur when dealing with such a mass of material, and there are pleasures to be found within these pages. </p>
<p>Works illustrated are discussed either by the artists themselves or by the critics who have written most memorably on them. But despite a rough division of chapters into chronological and theoretical frames, the experience of reading is a bit like viewing a kaleidoscope. There are many possible patterns and no easily identifiable path.</p>
<p>The second section consists mainly of extended extracts from archival texts. Some of these key critiques, first published many years ago, make this book a very useful research tool.</p>
<p>Marsh is not dogmatic in her feminism, and where they make a contribution, men’s voices also discuss the women who have reshaped our culture. Scott Mitchell’s account of the women from <a href="https://warlu.com">Yuendumu</a> who visited Sydney in 1982 describes how they came to understand the western art market could work for their community.</p>
<p>The radicalism of the late 1970s is beautifully encapsulated by “White Elephant or Red Herring?” Ian Milliss and Vivienne Binns’ account of the artists revolt against the international focus and gender bias in the 1979 Biennale of Sydney. It is a reminder that activism can work. </p>
<p>Then there is the extract from an article by Julie Ewington, that erudite curator and critic, whose career has spanned the 1970s to the 2020s. Present in the first 1977 Adelaide Women’s Show, held at the Experimental Art Foundation, she wrote that the </p>
<blockquote>
<p>collective was so huge, so large in fact that there was every possibility that it might collapse under its own weight; yet in some ways it was one of the best and most rewarding collectives.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is a description that could also fit this book, which has so much rich content, yet often fails in details, including the spelling of people’s names. There are many people listed in the acknowledgements, but no mention of a copy editor. This is not a surprise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
Over the past half a century, Australian women’s art has gone from the margins to the mainstream. A new book mapping this story is a flawed, colourful kaleidoscope.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175909
2022-02-23T19:11:48Z
2022-02-23T19:11:48Z
On Sidney Nolan, the painter who re-envisaged the Australian landscape
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447915/original/file-20220222-25-1nyoeeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C3%2C2048%2C1550&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sidney Nolan Kelly and Horse 1946. Enamel paint on composition
board 92.1 x 122.4 cm. Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Canberra Museum and Gallery</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Sidney Nolan: Search for Paradise, Heide Museum of Modern Art</em></p>
<p>The Sidney Nolan retrospective is held in a contemporary Eden in the Melbourne suburbs — the place where the artist’s own search for paradise began. </p>
<p>Nolan is best known for his modernist depictions of the history and mythology of Australian bush life, and his role in re-envisaging the landscape. This exhibition, curated by Kendrah Morgan, reframes his artistic work by focusing on his motivations: a relentless pursuit of paradise permeated with an unresolved sexual relationship.</p>
<p>Originally, Heide Museum of Modern Art was the home of cultural benefactors <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/heide-founders-john-and-sunday-reeds-love-entanglements-revealed-in-new-book-20150915-gjn2ke.html">John and Sunday Reed</a>, with whom Nolan was deeply entangled.</p>
<p>The narrative begins with a tiny painting, Woman and Tree Garden of Eden (1941). When he painted it, Nolan had left his wife and baby daughter and was living at Heide in a ménage à trois with the Reeds. The biblical references are overt: the fall of man, symbolised by a tree, a serpent, and a woman. </p>
<p>Window Girl and Flowers (1942) is painted on a repurposed six-pane window. Allusions to Eve have been tempered: each frame is like an animation cel with illustration-style renderings of a woman who is more earth goddess than wily temptress. </p>
<p>Nolan’s ability to produce a poetic affect from an awkward aesthetic is already evident in these early works </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447911/original/file-20220222-13-89clod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sidney Nolan, Arabian Tree 1943. Enamel on plywood, 91.8 x 61 cm. Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© The Trustees of the Sidney Nolan Trust/DACS. Licensed by Copyright Agency</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nolan’s utopia was short-lived. In 1942 he was conscripted into the army and stationed in Victoria’s Wimmera region where he began painting with a modernist sensibility. Arabian Tree (1943) continues his exploration of the fall and his relationship with Sunday Reed. A naked man and woman are enclosed in the canopy of a tree. The female figure appears off balance, as if out of kilter or in a swoon. </p>
<p>By comparison to his brash, empty Wimmera landscapes, the marks and intensity of colour in Rosa Mutabilis (1945) are more subdued. The farmhouse in the distance and smudgy almost human forms in the foreground are hard to apprehend. </p>
<p>Reed is almost disappearing in a shroud of rose petals: even in his imagination, the artist is unable to get close.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-melbourne-bookshop-that-ignited-australian-modernism-138300">Friday essay: the Melbourne bookshop that ignited Australian modernism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Australian landscape</h2>
<p>While in the Wimmera, Nolan had more time to paint. Using the vivid primary colours of commercial house paint, this period marked the start of his engagement with the Australian landscape. </p>
<p>Other escapist preoccupations, such as childhood recollections and connections to St Kilda, were vivified in red, blue and yellow. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447975/original/file-20220223-23-4288wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sidney Nolan Bathers 1943. Ripolin enamel on canvas 62.9 x 75.5 cm. Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne Bequest of John and Sunday Reed 1982.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© The Trustees of the Sidney Nolan Trust/DACS. Licensed by Copyright Agency</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In these paintings the simplicity of life is rendered through rudimentary lines, bold palette and hierarchies of form. The scenes seem to offer an escape in time and place from his reality, confined as a soldier to an inland army camp.</p>
<p>Nolan started his Ned Kelly series in Wimmera, the paintings he is perhaps best known for. But this retrospective pairs two of his lesser-known works, emphasising their comic qualities and inviting us to consider this iconic series with fresh eyes. </p>
<p>Policeman in Wombat Hole (1946) sits alongside Kelly and Horse (1946), adding to the Kelly myth of his response to authority. In this latter painting, even the animals are laughing.</p>
<p>Nolan’s deft ability to create an awkward aesthetic that produces the poetic is again operating in these works: a poetic of irreverence. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447976/original/file-20220223-13-9kjs2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sidney Nolan Policeman in a Wombat Hole 1946. Enamel on fibre board 91.8 x 122.3 cm. Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra. Gift of the artist to the people of Australia 1974.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Canberra Museum and Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>On the road</h2>
<p>In the late 1940s, travelling across Australia, Nolan painted myths and histories significant to the white Australian narrative. While responsive to First Nations’ perspectives, he never challenged the colonial vision or its grip on this stolen land and the settler imagination.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447979/original/file-20220223-25-1j2ghu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sidney Nolan Death of Captain Fraser 1948. Enamel on compressed fibre board 91.2 x 122.4 cm. Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra. Gift of the artist to the people of Australia 1974.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Canberra Museum and Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1950 and 60s, like many Australian creatives, Nolan lived in London. It was a convenient base for an artist who saw travel as means to discover hidden things about the self “using the outside world as a lever”. Nolan was drawn to places where there had been prior civilisations in order both to understand their achievements, and how they had perished. </p>
<p>Between 1968 and 1970, Nolan made his own paradise. His Paradise Garden mural is made from 1,320 vivid individual panels of real and imagined flora.</p>
<p>In one of Heide’s smaller galleries, 18 of these panels envelop the viewer and provide a contra point to a book of poems and drawings by the same name (1971). </p>
<p>This exposé of Nolan’s life at Heide – and his unresolved relationship with the Reeds – spews out in an unbridled, often pornographic expression of rage. Brought together in one space, the contradictory forces of the book and the mural panels exemplify Nolan’s conflicted drives. </p>
<h2>A contemporary re-imagining</h2>
<p>Nolan painted Self Portrait 1943 while serving in the army. In it, he employs exaggeration, distortion and smears of face paint to suggest a warrior. </p>
<p>Worimi artist Dean Cross adopts this self-portrait as a central image in Sometimes I Miss the Applause, a double screen video work commissioned to respond to the Nolan retrospective. </p>
<p>A reproduction of the self-portrait is adhered to a square bag that Cross uses as a mask, simultaneously suggesting Ned Kelly’s helmet and channelling Nolan. Kitted up in the mask and a tracksuit, Cross performs a rehearsal of the Maiden’s Dance from Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447914/original/file-20220222-13-j4lw0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view. Dean Cross: Sometimes I Miss the Applause. Heide Museum of Modern Art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Christian Capurro</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First performed in 1913, the ballet prompted such contention that <a href="https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/the-riot-at-the-rite-the-premiere-of-the-rite-of-spring">a fight</a> broke out in the audience. <a href="https://www.kennethmacmillan.com/new-page-22">Kenneth MacMillan’s 1962</a> interpretation for the Royal Ballet, with Nolan’s production design appropriating First Nation imagery and motifs, remains equally contentious.</p>
<p>Cross returns the favour, appropriating Nolan’s signature style of the awkward and the poetic, referring to, imitating and reinterpreting Nolan imagery. The finale where Cross departs through an over exposed and bleached out exit door suggests he, unlike Nolan, has found paradise. </p>
<p>It is an insightful and irreverent response to the retrospective, at once paying tribute to Nolan’s artistic vision and achievements and revealing their limitations.</p>
<p><em>Sidney Nolan: Search for Paradise is at the Heide Museum until June 13.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sidney-nolan-mystery-did-british-government-knowingly-knight-a-wartime-deserter-92368">The Sidney Nolan mystery: did British government knowingly knight a wartime deserter?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Shiels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This new exhibition at the Heide Museum of Modern Art traces the themes of Nolan’s expansive and prolific career.
Julie Shiels, Lecturer - School of Art, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175435
2022-01-21T02:44:09Z
2022-01-21T02:44:09Z
Australian art has lost two of its greats. Vale Ann Newmarch and Hossein Valamanesh
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441893/original/file-20220121-8990-1g2vkau.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C191%2C3994%2C1802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ann Newmarch, born Adelaide 1945, died Adelaide 2022, Self-portrait. 1/60th of a second, 1981, Adelaide, photo-etching on paper, 26.4 x 34.7 cm (plate), Public Donations Fund 2015, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Ann Newmarch; and Hossein Valamanesh with his work Untitled, Gallery 6, Art Gallery
of South Australia, Adelaide, 2019</span> </figcaption></figure><p>In the past ten days Australia has lost two important artworld figures. Both were senior artists working in Adelaide but with a reach extending far beyond the city or the nation. </p>
<p>Celebrated feminist artist, Ann Newmarch OAM, born June 9 1945, passed away on Thursday January 13 2022. </p>
<p>Hossein Valamanesh AM, born March 2 1949, died suddenly on January 15, just weeks before he and his partner Angela Valamanesh are due to exhibit their work in the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art – Free/State at the Art Gallery of South Australia. </p>
<p>Although they work in mostly different genres, a similar sense of restraint imbues the work of each, and both artists are equally celebrated. </p>
<h2>Vale Ann Newmarch</h2>
<p>The life and career of Newmarch was marked by political activism, and her energy in steering community projects such as the anti-rape mural Reclaim the Night (1980) and the Prospect Mural Group’s postcolonial History of Australia (1982). </p>
<p>In 1969, she joined the staff of the South Australian School of Art, and while continuing in the tradition of a long line of women lecturers, her appointment was different. She ushered in the optimism and “voice” second-wave feminism gave women artists and over three decades she mentored female students who in turn have had brilliant careers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441879/original/file-20220121-9349-1n7u28y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ann Newmarch, born Adelaide 1945, died Adelaide 2022. Women hold up half the sky!, 1978, Prospect, Adelaide. Colour screenprint on paper, 91.5 x 65.0 cm (sheet), South Australian Government Grant 1981.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Ann Newmarch</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1974, Newmarch was a founding member of the politically-active <a href="https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4198/mother-nature-is-a-lesbian-political-printmaking-i/">Progressive Art Movement (PAM)</a> and, in 1976, of Adelaide’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-our-art-museums-finally-opened-their-eyes-to-australian-women-artists-102647">Women’s Art Movement</a>. In each she pushed the boundaries of the print medium to develop an accessible art form. In PAM, along with <a href="https://australiangalleries.com.au/artists/mandy-martin/">Mandy Martin</a>, Newmarch produced political posters in her Prospect studio advocating for change such as a nationalised car industry and Australian Independence.</p>
<p>As an artist and mother of three young children in the 1970s and 1980s, her work across all media areas epitomises second-wave feminism’s mantra “the personal is political”. Her Three months of interrupted work, shown in WAMs ground-breaking 1977 exhibition, <a href="https://aceopen.art/exhibitions/remembering-womens-show/">The Women’s Show</a>, best describes the juggling act of domestic labour, motherhood and working as an artist. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441880/original/file-20220121-9089-t7yb38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ann Newmarch, born Adelaide 1945, died Adelaide 2022,
Maralinga: poisoned rations, 1988, Adelaide, oil on canvas, 168.0 x182.8 cm, Gift of the artist through Art Gallery of the South Australia Contemporary Collectors, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Ann Newmarch</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Her children became her subjects, along with pressing social issues such as damage to the landscape from atomic testing and uranium mining as in Maralinga: poisoned rations (1988). </p>
<p>Later in life, she confronted the invisibility of ageing women in a powerful series Risking 50 (1995).</p>
<p>Newmarch’s 1978 print Women hold up half the sky!, the title a riff on Mao Zedong’s famous phrase, was the only Australian work selected for the all-important 2007 Los Angeles exhibition <a href="https://www.moca.org/exhibition/wack-art-and-the-feminist-revolution">WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution</a>. It featured again in the National Gallery of Australia’s 2021 exhibition Know My Name. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beauty-and-audacity-know-my-name-presents-a-new-female-story-of-australian-art-150139">Beauty and audacity: Know My Name presents a new, female story of Australian art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Her work is held by all major public and private collections, and she was the first woman artist honoured by a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1997. She was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to the Arts in 1989. </p>
<p>Colleagues have taken to social media with the words: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Rest in Power Ann Newmarch: one of the great Australian second-wave feminist artists.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Vale Hossein Valamanesh</h2>
<p>Hossein Valamanesh, was born in Iran and educated at the School of Art in Tehran, and immigrated to Australia in 1973. </p>
<p>From his initial base in Perth, he travelled to remote Aboriginal communities in 1974 where his brush with an ancient culture resonated with his age-old Persian heritage. He relocated to Adelaide the following year, and attended the South Australian School of Art. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441882/original/file-20220121-9024-1935qkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hossein Valamanesh, born Tehran 1949, died Adelaide 2022, Untitled, 1994, Adelaide, lotus leaves on gauze, synthetic polymer paint, 60.0 x 145.0 x 3.5 cm, Faulding 150 Anniversary Fund for South Australian Contemporary Art 1995.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Hossein Valamanesh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By 1997, he synthesised his connection to place in Longing belonging by lighting a campfire on Persian rug placed in the Australian bush. The charred burnt circle of the rug stands testament to his dual identities.</p>
<p>Valamanesh’s work is known and loved for its spare aesthetic sensibility, parred back form and poetic visual imagery. His materials are frequently found natural materials: ochres, sands, stones and leaves, branches and twigs animated by a Sufi philosophy exploring the ineffable and the impermanent underpinned by Persian poetry. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441883/original/file-20220121-9089-i9xt7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hossein Valamanesh, born Tehran 1949, died Adelaide 2022, Fallen branch, 2005, Adelaide, bronze, 152.0 x 156.0 x 7.0 cm, Gift of the Art Gallery of South Australia Contemporary Collectors assisted by Jane Ayers, Candy Bennett, Jan Frolich, David and Pam McKee, Jane Michell and Michael and Tracey Whiting through the Contemporary Collectors 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Hossein Valamanesh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A shadow of the human form is an enduring theme, as in his wall piece Untitled (1995) consisting in a folded shirt made from lotus leaves set against a Sufi love poem painted in the shape of human shadow (when viewed diagonally). Beneath the philosophy, mathematics is inevitably at play in his work.</p>
<p>Over five decades, in sculpture, painting, installation and video (recently with his son Nassiem <a href="https://buxtoncontemporary.com/exhibitions/hossein-nassiem-valamanesh-what-goes-around-2021/">at Buxton Contemporary</a>) Valamanesh’s work explores the paradoxes of selfhood, existence and being. Collaborative work with his wife Angela Valamenesh includes several public art commissions including the <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14_Pieces.JPG">Fourteen pieces</a> (2005) outside the South Australian Museum, referencing the vertebrae of an extinct marine reptile in the museum’s collection.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1052&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1052&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441885/original/file-20220121-9047-1ixgp1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1052&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hossein Valamanesh, born Tehran 1949, died Adelaide 2022, After Rain, 2013, Adelaide, suspended tree and electric motor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">On loan from the artist’s estate, © Hossein Valamanesh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hossein’s work is held in national and international collections and he was a prolific international exhibitor, with his work currently on show in a major solo exhibition <a href="https://artistprofile.com.au/hossein-valamanesh-puisque-tout-passe/">Puisque tout passe (This Will Also Pass)</a>, at the Institut des Cultures d'Islam in Paris. </p>
<p>His numerous awards include an Order of Australia (with Angela) in 2010 for outstanding artistic practice, and he too was a generous mentor of young artists. His contemplative work will live on, he has been described as “a finder of beautiful things in a world that hides them well”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175435/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Speck received ARC funding to research Australian art exhibitions. </span></em></p>
Although they work in different genres, a similar sense of restraint imbues the work of each.
Catherine Speck, Professorial Fellow (Honorary), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/174340
2022-01-11T19:16:02Z
2022-01-11T19:16:02Z
Bark Ladies: how women’s Yolŋu bark paintings break with convention and embrace artists’ strong personalities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439956/original/file-20220110-21-1jokdue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2500%2C1867&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Installation view of Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV
International, Melbourne.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala, NGV International</em></p>
<p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story includes names of people who have died.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Bark painting in Yirrkala is a tradition of some antiquity, but it is also one that constantly reinvents itself.</p>
<p>Although traditionally Yolŋu bark paintings and <em>larrakitj</em> (painted hollow poles) belonged in the male domain, by about 1970 the first women artists turned to these art forms. In 1990, the National Gallery of Victoria acquired its first bark painting by a Yolŋu woman artist, Nancy Gaymala Yunupiŋu’s <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/2639/">Bäru story</a> (1990), and over the next three decades it has built up one of the most significant collections of work by Yolŋu women artists in the world. </p>
<p>In recent years, many of these women artists have attained national and international reputations, have been awarded various prizes, and have been the subject of major survey exhibitions in public art galleries.</p>
<p>The show, as one has grown to expect from this gallery, is simply spectacular – dazzling, innovative and very beautiful. As you enter the NGV, the entire entrance foyer is occupied by a huge floor-based installation, Naminapu Maymuru-White’s Milŋiyawuy, (the Milky Way or River of Stars) where the souls of the deceased are turned into stars. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439945/original/file-20220110-13-my32nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV International, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This vast expanse of stars painted in white on the black floor is reflected above in a huge mirror so that the visitor is caught physically suspended between heaven and earth. This sets the mood for the whole exhibition as we negotiate a liminal space that lies somewhere between different spheres of being.</p>
<h2>Strong personalities</h2>
<p>Each of the 11 women artists included in this exhibition has their own personal imagery and individual stylistic orientation and, in this, it is an exhibition of strong artistic personalities. Although generalisations may be foolhardy, my impression is that the women artists appear less constricted by the binds of convention and more prepared to follow personal trajectories than their male counterparts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439953/original/file-20220110-17-15p5a53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV International, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dhambit Munuŋgurr – <a href="https://artistprofile.com.au/dhambit-mununggurr/">the blue lady</a> – was badly injured in a car accident in 2005 and in view of her disability was given permission by the community not to gather and grind her own natural pigments but could use commercial acrylic paints. </p>
<p>She works almost exclusively in blue. On her cardboard palette, she has her colours divided into what she terms: “water blue, midnight blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine, Australian blue and Australian sky blue”.</p>
<p>Her bark paintings and <em>larrakitj</em> formed a highlight in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/enthralling-dystopian-sublime-ngv-triennial-has-a-huge-wow-factor-152607">recent NGV Triennial</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/enthralling-dystopian-sublime-ngv-triennial-has-a-huge-wow-factor-152607">Enthralling, dystopian, sublime: NGV Triennial has a huge 'wow' factor</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this exhibition, in a striking recent painting titled Order (2021), she has tackled contemporary and topical imagery. The curator of the exhibition, Myles Russell Cook, decodes in his catalogue essay the imagery of this painting. It is a portrait of Julia Gillard, the former Australian prime minister, delivering her misogyny speech “surrounded by limp-faced, unnamed, seated politicians. Yolŋu people appear in the bottom left of the composition, storming the parliament in ceremony dancing with spears”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439946/original/file-20220110-27-10a1dh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dhambit Munuŋgurr Order 2021. Synthetic polymer paint on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.) 201.0 × 100.0 cm. Purchased with funds donated by Janet Whiting AM and Phil Lukies, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Dhambit Munuŋgurr, courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a vibrancy, chromatic richness and intensity in the painting as there is in much of Munuŋgurr’s oeuvre.</p>
<p>The much-celebrated <a href="https://www.the-national.com.au/artists/mulkun-wirrpanda/%C5%8Badi-ga-gundirr/">Mulkun Wirrpanda</a>, who last year passed from this life, devoted much of her art to preserving traditional knowledge concerning less well-known aspects of bush tucker and passing this on to future generations. The series of her painted barks titled Ŋäḏi ga Guṉdirr have a wonderful solemn majesty and crisp resolution. </p>
<p>As with many artists in this exhibition, there is a confidence and certainty of touch where through her striking designs she reveals her encoded wisdom.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1658&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439948/original/file-20220110-23-8teza6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1658&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mulkun Wirrpanda Ŋäḏi ga Guṉdirr 2019. Earth pigments on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.). 186.0 x 82.0 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Mulkun Wirrpanda, courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dhuwarrwarr Marika’s Birth of a Nation is a shimmering installation consisting of six huge bark paintings and five <em>larrakitj</em> that carry the Rirratjiŋu <em><a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/shark-people-djapu-painting-and-the-minytji-buku-larrngay-collection/">miny’tji</a></em> design and relate to the landing site of the Djang’kawu Sisters, the major creator beings. </p>
<p>As you stand in front of this installation there is the sensation of being transported onto a different plain of existence. Other works are surrounded by walls of mirrors constantly reminding us of the spiritual and non-earthly frame of reference for much of this art.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439951/original/file-20220110-28-1rytcg2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Dhuwarrwarr Marika Birth of a nation 2020 on display in Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala from 17 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 at NGV International,
Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Transported from the gallery</h2>
<p>There is always a challenge when displaying Yolŋu art to break from the conventions of the inappropriate white cube gallery and to create a new viewing experience where the audience will feel transported far from the terrestrial realm. In this exhibition, there is as much symbolism in the display with physically dissolving gallery walls, painted floors and numerous reflecting surfaces as there is in the art itself.</p>
<p>Possibly the most unexpected and quirky exhibitor is Eunice Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu with her bark paintings titled I am a Mermaid (2020), New Generation (2021) and My Wedding (2021). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="© Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu, courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1546&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1546&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439952/original/file-20220110-18-yo60kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eunice Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu I am a Mermaid 2020. Earth pigments and recycled print toner on Stringybark (Eucalyptus sp.). 255 x 57.0 cm.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They are painted in a mixture of earth pigments and recycled print toner with the unexpected combination of pinks and greens. The artist’s father once speared a fish that bled human blood and in a dream he was visited by a mermaid who revealed to him that his wife was with child. His daughter came into this world with the knowledge that she was a mermaid. This and other imagery could keep a whole generation of Freudian psychologists employed for years!</p>
<p>The Bark Ladies exhibition is provocative, absorbing and inspirational – as well as a lot of fun.</p>
<p><em>Bark Ladies shows at NGV International until April 25.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Bark painting in Yirrkala is a tradition of antiquity – but it is constantly reinvented, as this stunning exhibition of contemporary women’s work attests.
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/171109
2021-12-14T23:34:07Z
2021-12-14T23:34:07Z
On the elegance and wry observations of Jeffrey Smart, one of Australia’s favourite painters
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437427/original/file-20211214-15-6p9mfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4187%2C2501&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart, Margaret Olley in the Louvre Museum
1994–95 Tuscany, Italy. Oil on canvas 67 x 110 cm </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Bequest of Ian Whalland 1997. 85.1997</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Jeffrey Smart, National Gallery of Australia</em></p>
<p>Although I never met him, Jeffrey Smart (1921-2013) was my first art teacher. As “Phideas” on the ABC Radio’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonauts_Club">Argonauts</a> program he told stories of art and artists, explaining ways of seeing to children across Australia. </p>
<p>Two things I remember from my childhood listening. The first was the marvel of the <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/golden-ratio-in-art-328435">Golden Mean</a>, the magical geometric ratio that governs the western tradition of art. The second was a story of <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rmbt/hd_rmbt.htm">Rembrandt</a> who took his own path as an artist, even though that led to criticism by his peers. </p>
<p>After I discovered Phidias’s identity I could see the Golden Mean writ large in his carefully constructed paintings. But Rembrandt? Jeffrey Smart’s painting surfaces meticulously honour the Italian Renaissance and his composition at times has echoes of the metaphysical works of <a href="https://www.artnews.com/feature/giorgio-de-chirico-why-is-he-famous-1202687371/">Giorgio de Chirico</a>. They have nothing in common with Rembrandt’s painterly approach. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437390/original/file-20211214-23-17pb3qm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart, Waiting for the train, 1969-70.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1969, gift of Alcoa World Alumina Australia 2005, © The Estate of Jeffrey Smart.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But that wasn’t the point of the story. Smart was speaking in Sydney in about 1960, a time and place when artists were expected to be hard drinking heterosexual men performing painterly abstraction. Smart was not a part of that culture. He had a lifelong allegiance to the classical forms of the Italian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Quattrocento">quattrocento</a>, especially the exquisite formal geometry of <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/artists/piero-della-francesca-c-14151492">Piero della Francesca</a>. His love of structure, smooth surface, fine detail and his sexuality put him at odds with Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437393/original/file-20211214-13-13ub98q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart, Morning at Savona, 1976, University Art Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney, Donated through the Alan Richard Renshaw Bequest 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© The Estate of Jeffrey Smart.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was only later, years after he retreated to Italy, that his home country came to fully appreciate the elegance of his wry observations. In his old age, this artist once out of tune with his peers, became one of Australia’s most favoured sons. </p>
<p>Now, on the centenary of his birth, the National Gallery’s Deborah Hart and Rebecca Edwards have curated a thoughtful and generous reassessment linking Smart to the places and people who nourished him.</p>
<h2>Shape, line and colour</h2>
<p>It begins in his home town of Adelaide: a city with a well planned urban centre and (back then) a culture of Protestant conformity. </p>
<p>The young Smart painted buildings and industrial waste; the way light and shade makes patterns on surfaces; the contrast between clear constructed shapes and fluid humanity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437392/original/file-20211214-15-19oh8wn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart, Corrugated Gioconda, 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1976, © The Estate of Jeffrey Smart.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Local cinemas introduced him to Alfred Hitchcock, whose films use visual clues to imply tension. Hitchcock was famous for inserting himself as an incidental figure into his narratives. I have always wondered if that solitary of a watching man in so many of Smart’s paintings is in part a tribute to the original master of visual suspense.</p>
<p>Smart would only ever discuss his work in terms of their formal relationship between shape, line and colour. This insistence on formalism goes back to his early studies in Adelaide and the influence of the modernist painter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorrit_Black">Dorrit Black</a> (1891-1951), who had returned to Adelaide after some years in France. The curators have included her <a href="https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?uniqueId=29974">House-roofs and flowers</a> which hangs beside Smart’s early structured <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/436.2001/">Seated Nude</a>. It is easy to see the connection. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437428/original/file-20211214-17-1eqwvss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart, Keswick siding, 1945. Tarntanya/Adelaide. Oil on canvas. 62 x 72.1 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Gift of Charles B Moses 1982 193.1982</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a sense of wanting to escape in some paintings of his Adelaide period, such as Keswick Siding. This is less so after he moved to Sydney where he found, despite his unfashionable devotion to precision and classical form, his art was accepted as being a part of the <a href="https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/2008.24/the-merioola-group">Charm School</a>, which it was not. Living and working in Sydney, he also became greatly admired as a teacher at the National Art School and a broadcaster.</p>
<h2>Humour and friends</h2>
<p>Even the most structured works of Smart’s maturity include visual jokes and a human touch. In Holiday, 1971, a relentless pattern of balconies and windows is disrupted by the small figure of a woman, lazing in the sun. He always claimed he introduced people in his paintings of buildings to give a sense of scale, an old artist’s trick. I am not sure how that works in the Portrait of Clive James, unless it was to remind the subject of his significance in the scheme of things. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437429/original/file-20211214-21-16vusye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart. Portrait of Clive James. 1991–92 Tuscany, Italy. Oil on canvas. 109 x 90.4 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales 1992 © The Estate of Jeffrey Smart Photo: AGNSW 276.1992</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Smart’s relocation to Italy in 1963 saw a lightening of his palette, and a joyous celebration of light with the contrasting geometry of the blocky shapes of the modern world and the human scale of the old. There is a running theme of visual wit, but only for those who notice. Waiting for the train (1969-70) has echoes of compositions by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piero_della_Francesca">Piero della Francesca</a>, albeit in gloomy tones. </p>
<p>His portrait of Germaine Greer places her against an impastoed wall, a surprising rough painterly texture which could either be a comment on the subject’s character or a riposte to those who considered he was lacking in technical skill as a painter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437430/original/file-20211214-19-ptwv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart. Portrait of Germaine Greer. 1984 Tuscany, Italy. Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas. 96 x 120 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Private collection</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the most satisfying works are Smart’s portraits of friends, and here his humour comes into play. The scholarly writer David Malouf is depicted as a workman in overalls, holding a twisting orange pipe. Margaret Olley is at the Louvre, a place she loved, but placed in front of a row of anonymous wooden screens. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437431/original/file-20211214-23-at8gxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart. Portrait of David Malouf. 1980 Tuscany, Italy. Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas. 100 x 100 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. Purchased 1983 © The Estate of Jeffrey Smart 1983/0P13</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most fascinating of all is The listeners, 1965 where a young man lies in a field of grass, overseen by a surveilling radar. The head is a portrait of Smart’s friend, the art critic Paul Haefliger who had retreated from Australia to Majorca. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437432/original/file-20211214-21-nj1p6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart. The listeners. 1965 Rome, Italy. Oil on canvas. 91.5 x 71 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat. The William, Rene and Blair Ritchie Collection. Bequest of Blair Ritchie 1998 © The Estate of Jeffrey Smart 1998.23</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It shows visual contrasts between modern technology and nature, between the golden grass, red radar and dark sky and (for those in the know) between the young body of the model and the head of the ageing Haefliger.</p>
<p>Smart’s portraits rarely focus on their subject. The one exception is The two-up game (Portrait of Ermes), 2008, who became Smart’s life partner in 1975. His calm face is backgrounded by the solid geometry of containers on one side and the fluidity of people playing a game of chance, on the other. </p>
<p>In formal terms, his image in the foreground balances the composition. This also seems to be the meaning, the reason for it all. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437433/original/file-20211214-15-1hmeyhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeffrey Smart. The two-up game (Portrait of Ermes). 2006 Tuscany, Italy. Oil on canvas.
86.8 x 158.4 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville. Purchased 2006 2006.011</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Jeffrey Smart is at the National Gallery of Australia until May 15 2022</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171109/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has received funding from The Australian Research Commission </span></em></p>
Jeffrey Smart is admired for his carefully structured paintings of Tuscany and Rome. This National Gallery of Australia’s centenary celebration of his birth takes the viewer back to Adelaide.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/173241
2021-12-08T05:51:06Z
2021-12-08T05:51:06Z
Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art shows how our local differences demand curiosity and care
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436287/original/file-20211208-25-1mjhuk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6441%2C4297&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yuma Taru
The spiral of life – the tongue of the cloth
(yan pal ana hmali) – a mutual dialogue 2021
Ramie suspended from metal threads / 500 x 250cm (diam.); installed dimensions variable / Commissioned for APT10</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: The artist and Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Cultural Development Centre</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art</em></p>
<p>The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art has earned its rightful place in Australia’s cultural calendar for the ambitious scope of its artistic programming, highlighting the diversity and range of artistic practices across the Asia Pacific region. This 10th triennial, ATP10, features 150 artists and collectives from 30 countries.</p>
<p>The curatorial gambit characterising the triennial <a href="https://acca.melbourne/program/defining-moments-first-asia-pacific-triennial-of-contemporary-art/">since its inception</a> in 1993 has always been highly complex: how to give representation to the region’s complexity, without homogenising or flattening cultural differences? </p>
<p>To answer this question, I would point to two interconnected concerns or themes that distinguish APT10: an emphasis on First Nations’ perspectives and a gentle excavation of underexamined or invisible histories. </p>
<h2>Cross-cultural conversations</h2>
<p>The extraordinary Yolngu/Macassan Project draws attention to the richness of the cultural, social, and spiritual connections between the Macassan sailors from southern Sulawesi in Indonesia and the Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land. </p>
<p>For hundreds of years, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/07/21/2632428.htm">this pre-colonial relationship</a> was based on the Macassan trading tamarind in exchange for sea cucumbers (<em>trepang</em>), until the practice was banned in the early 1900s. The project includes a Yolngu-crafted Macassan sail, bark paintings and pottery shards and underscores the enduring influence of the Macassan’s visits on the Yolngu people. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436286/original/file-20211208-141213-1fxsoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nawurapu Wunungmurra, Dhalwangu/Narrkala people Australia 1952–2018. Macassan pot 2016. Ceramic with earth pigments and polyvinyl acetate 40 x 43cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Co-curated by Abdi Karya and Diane Moon, the richness of the Yolngu/Macassan Project accentuates the crucial educational role played by APT10: by investing in research and collaboration, meaningful cross-cultural conversations are reignited and brought to the attention of broader audiences. </p>
<p>Another important curatorial collaboration is Between Earth and Sky: Indigenous Art from Taiwan. Co-curated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paiwan_people">Paiwan</a> artist Etan Pavavalung and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makatao_people">Makatao</a> curator Manray Hsu, eight Indigenous artists from Taiwan work across mediums to retrieve cultural techniques and criticise the corrosive effects of colonisation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1168&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1168&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436291/original/file-20211208-140109-lnecjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1168&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Between Earth and Sky: Indigenous Contemporary Art from Taiwan (APT10 installation view). 4 Dec 21 – 25 April 22.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For over two decades, Yuma Taru has driven the revival of <a href="https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=18,23,45,18&post=24402">Atayal weaving and dyeing</a>. Seeking guidance from her grandmother and Tribal Elders, Taru established a collective of local women dedicated to preserving traditional weaving practices and techniques. </p>
<p>The spiral of life – the tongue of the cloth (<em>yan pala na hmali</em>) – a mutual dialogue (2021) is a textile-based installation hung from the ceiling and gives visible representation to the Atayal oral language. </p>
<p>According to the Atayal Elders, words must be akin to the cloth’s softness, so thoughts can be conveyed without injury or damage to the listener. </p>
<h2>Ideas of scale</h2>
<p>Themes of migration and displacement are taken up by Suva-born, Melbourne raised Salote Tawale. Tawale has exploited the scale of GOMA’s dramatic central gallery space by installing a large bamboo raft No location (2021). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436290/original/file-20211208-21-geogn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Salote Tawale, Fiji | Australia b.1976. No Location 2021. Composite digital image.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of the artist</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The raft was inspired by a traditional Fijian watercraft, <a href="http://virtual.fijimuseum.org.fj/index.php?view=objects&id=74">bilibili</a>, Tawale remembers seeing in the Fiji Museum in Suva as a child. The vessel becomes a metaphor for moving between cultures and the threat of sea-level rise activated by climate change. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436190/original/file-20211207-19-11ucjx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alia Farid, Kuwait b.1985. In Lieu of What Was (details) 2019. Fibre-reinforced polymer. Five pieces: 297 x 100 x 100cm; 280 x 260 x 260cm; 240 x 130 x 130cm; 255 x 123 x 123cm; 240 x 160 x 160cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: The artist and Portikus, Frankfurt. Photograph: Diana Pfammatter © Alia Farid.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sitting adjacent is Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican artist Alia Farid’s large-scale installation In Lieu of What Was (2019). Kuwait’s water consumption is amongst the highest in the world, however, it has no rivers and so Kuwait relies on desalination plants and the importation of water. </p>
<p>Farid’s sand-coloured sculptures stand desolately in the gallery space. It is as if they have been excavated from the future as archival “relics” from when the Gulf region still had access to water. </p>
<p>The impressiveness of scale is also at play in Balinese artist I Made Djirna’s installation Kita (2021). Like strings of enormous beads, hundreds of pumice stones hang from the ceiling, evoking an immersive jungle-like experience. </p>
<p>With its textured and layered cascading pumice stones (traces of the island’s volcanic activity), coconut husks and terracotta masks, the spectator’s attention is focused on the installation’s physical and material presence. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436192/original/file-20211207-136652-1ir186g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I Made Djirna, Indonesia b.1957. Kita 2021 (work in development, artist studio, Kedewatan, Bali) Strings of pumice stone, carved stone and coconut shells. Site-specific installation. Commissioned for APT10.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: The artist</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Curiosity and care</h2>
<p>Cambodian artist Svay Sareth spent his childhood in a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodia border during the devastating war-ravaged years of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge">Khmer Rouge regime</a> (1975-79). Sareth has taken up durational performance as a metaphor for Cambodia’s traumatic and violent history. </p>
<p>In the video work Mon Boulet (2011), Sareth wheeled an enormous 80-kilogram metal ball for approximately 250 kilometres. He had no provisions, prompting chance encounters and interactions for obtaining food, water, and shelter with many people over the course of his six-day journey. </p>
<p>An adjacent cinema series <a href="https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/cinema/programs/apt10-cinema-under-the-radar">Under the Radar</a> highlights film making from across Asia and the Pacific. Combined with a comprehensive children’s program, APT10 promises to provide a range of experiences drawn from both within and around the region over the summer months ahead. </p>
<p>While the global pandemic grinds on in the background, APT10 feels fresh, forward looking and optimistic. After almost two years of closed and restricted borders, the exhibition delivers a poignant reminder: we are all globally interdependent, however, our local differences demand both our curiosity and care. </p>
<p><em>APT10 is showing at QAGOMA until April 25 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chari Larsson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This exhibition highlights the diversity and range of artistic practices across the Asia Pacific region.
Chari Larsson, Senior Lecturer of art history, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.