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Federation University Art Collection
Sculpture - Artwork, 'The More Bones the Better' by Yhonnie Scarce, 2016
Yhonnie SCARCE (1973- ) Born Woomera, South Australia Language group: Kokatha, Southern desert region and Nukunu, Spencer region Yhonnie Scarce works predominantly in glass. She majored in glass withing a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) course at the South Australian School of Art, Adelaide, and holds a Master of Fine Arts from Monash University. One of the first contemporary Australian artists to explore the political and aesthetic power of glass, Scarce describes her work as ‘politically motivated and emotionally driven’. Scarce’s work often references the on-going effects of colonisation on Aboriginal people, In particular her research focus has explored the impact of the removal and relocation of Aboriginal people from their homelands and the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their families. (https://thisisnofantasy.com/artist/yhonnie-scarce/, accessed 10 September 2018)Artist's Statement 'The More Bones the Better', 2016 Yhonnie Scarce was born in Woomera, SA and belongs to the Kokatha and Nukunu peoples. Scarce embraces a non traditional approach to glass blowing using glass as more than a mere material, acting as a lens and a mirror, Scarce reflects and exposes the tragedies of Australia’s colonisation. She applies the technical rigours of traditional glass blowing techniques in an innovative and unconventional manner. In particular Scarce uses glass to explore the lives and histories of Aboriginal Australians. Hand blown glass is shaped, engraved, painted and smashed to create indigenous fruits and vegetables such as bush bananas, bush plums and long yams symbolic of her peoples culture and traditions. With their elongated, torso-like shapes, they even evoke human bodies. Akin to a gatherer of bush food Scarce creates glass-gatherings of the persecuted. The repetition of brittle ambiguous bodies collected for experimentation and examination conjures the relentless impact of colonisation and the litany of abuses suffered by Aboriginal people. Within her research Scarce encountered a variety of ethnographic studies examining the use of scientific interventions amongst Indigenous cultures. These include Government sanctioned illegal drug testing of children in orphanages and other dubious medical practices amongst indigenous prison inmates. This work metaphorically looks at these situations and poses questions of what might have gone on in such a laboratory. The judge of the 2017 Guirguis New Art Prize (GNAP), Simon Maidment, Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria said; “The winning work by Yhonnie Scarce captures the sensitivity to materials she displays throughout her artistic practice. The blown and shattered glass elements are a delicate contrast to the shocking and little discussed histories of Aboriginal exploitation and abuse in the name of science in Australia. Engaging this topic, this work is haunting, in the same way those lived and documented experiences continue to haunt the collective unconscious of this country. Yhonnie Scarce’s work, The More Bones the Better 2016, I believe makes an important contribution to the Collection of Federation University Australia and will engage and move diverse audiences with its technical accomplishment, beauty and message. Yhonnie Scarce was born in Woomera SA and belongs to the Kokatha and Nukunu peoples. Scarce embraces a non-traditional approach to glass blowing using her medium as more than a mere material. Applying the technical rigours of traditional glass blowing in an innovative and unconventional manner, Scarce’s glass objects act as a lens and a mirror to reflect and expose the tragedies of Australia’s colonisation and, in particular, explore the lives and histories of Aboriginal Australians. Hand-blown glass is shaped, engraved, painted and smashed to represent indigenous fruits and vegetables such as bush bananas, bush plums and long yams, symbolic of Scarce’s people’s culture and traditions. While these elongated shapes on the one hand represent fruit and vegetables, gathered and grouped as in the gathering of bush food, Scarce’s torso-like bodies and forms are glass ‘gatherings’ representative of the gathering of people. Here, the many brittle bodies act as a metaphor for the collection, experimentation and examinations undertaken by government authorities on Aboriginal communities researched by Scarce. Exposing a variety of ethnographic studies, examining the use of scientific interventions on Indigenous cultures, Scarce also revealed Government sanctioned illegal drug testing of children in orphanages and other dubious medical practices undertaken on indigenous prison inmates. Scarce’s gatherings also reflect the impact of colonisation and the relentless conjuring and litany of abuses suffered by Aboriginal people. The More Bones the Better metaphorically looks at these situations and poses questions of what was undertaken and investigated in these laboratories. guirguis new art prize, yhonnie scarce, glass, aboriginal -
Federation University Art Collection
Artwork, other - Artwork, [Heart of a Champ] by Josh Muir, 2014
Josh MUIR (1991-05 February 2022) Yorta Yorta/Gunditjmara/Barkinjl Born Ballarat, Victoria Muir's art draws on hip-hop and street art culture and often depicts the history of indigenous people and European settlers. He spent a lot of time in his teens researching and enjoying public art, especially graffiti. Inspired by the commitment of graffers he was inspired by the concepts they illustrate. He started expressing his own ideas with pen and pad and once the basic concept down and it was tangible and could be converted that to canvas or walls. Muir experimented with spray and stencil work a lot in his teens and later branched out into acrylic paints, paint pens, and digital forms of Art. In 2016 Josh Muir's work 'Still Here', projected onto the front wall of the National Gallery of Victoria was critically acclaimed. At that time he stated: "‘I am a proud Yorta Yorta/ Gunditjmara man, born and living in Ballarat, Victoria. I hold my culture strong to my heart – it gives me a voice and a great sense of my identity. When I look around, I see empires built on Aboriginal land. I cannot physically change or shift this, though I can make the most of my culture in a contemporary setting and use my art projects to address current issues of reconciliation." In 2016 Josh Muir was awarded the second recipient of HMS Trust’s Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship at University of Melbourne, based at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). The Fellowship was created to enable Indigenous artists to undertake significant projects of their choice. He was also a Telstra National Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Youth Art Award winner. The Koorie Heritage Trust, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and Federation University Australia all own his work. Digital output on stretched canvas.josh muir, artist, artwork, aboriginal, hutchinson indigenous fellowship -
Federation University Art Collection
Artwork, other - artwork, Josh Muir, [Portrait] by Josh Muir, 2014
Josh MUIR (1991- ) Yorta Yorta/Gunditjmara/Barkinjl Muir's art draws on hip-hop and street art culture and often depicts the history of indigenous people and European settlers. He spent a lot of time in his teens researching and enjoying public art, especially graffiti. Inspired by the commitment of graffers he was inspired by the concepts they illustrate. He started expressing his own ideas with pen and pad and once the basic concept down and it was tangible and could be converted that to canvas or walls. Muir experimented with spray and stencil work a lot in his teens and later branched out into acrylic paints, paint pens, and digital forms of Art. In 2016 Josh Muir's work 'Still Here', projected onto the front wall of the National Gallery of Victoria was critically acclaimed. At that time he stated: "‘I am a proud Yorta Yorta/ Gunditjmara man, born and living in Ballarat, Victoria. I hold my culture strong to my heart – it gives me a voice and a great sense of my identity. When I look around, I see empires built on aboriginal land. I cannot physically change or shift this, though I can make the most of my culture in a contemporary setting and use my art projects to address current issues of reconciliation." In 2016 Josh Muir was awarded the second recipient of HMS Trust’s Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship at University of Melbourne, based at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). The Fellowship was created to enable Indigenous artists to undertake significant projects of their choice.A computer generated artwork on stretched canvas.josh muir, artist, artwork, aboriginal, hutchinson indigenous fellowship -
Federation University Art Collection
Artwork, other - Artwork, Josh Muir, [Eye] by Josh Muir, 2014
Josh MUIR (1991- ) Yorta Yorta/Gunditjmara Muir's art draws on hip-hop and street art culture and often depicts the history of indigenous people and European settlers. He spent a lot of time in his teens researching and enjoying public art, especially graffiti. Inspired by the commitment of graffers he was inspired by the concepts they illustrate. He started expressing his own ideas with pen and pad and once the basic concept down and it was tangible and could be converted that to canvas or walls. Muir experimented with spray and stencil work a lot in his teens and later branched out into acrylic paints, paint pens, and digital forms of Art. In 2016 Josh Muir's work 'Still Here', projected onto the front wall of the National Gallery of Victoria was critically acclaimed. At that time he stated: "‘I am a proud Yorta Yorta/ Gunditjmara man, born and living in Ballarat, Victoria. I hold my culture strong to my heart – it gives me a voice and a great sense of my identity. When I look around, I see empires built on aboriginal land. I cannot physically change or shift this, though I can make the most of my culture in a contemporary setting and use my art projects to address current issues of reconciliation." In 2016 Josh Muir was awarded the second recipient of HMS Trust’s Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship at University of Melbourne, based at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). The Fellowship was created to enable Indigenous artists to undertake significant projects of their choice.Digital print on stretched canvas.josh muir, artist, artwork, aboriginal, hutchinson indigenous fellowship -
Federation University Art Collection
Photograph, Launch of the Ballarat School of Mines History Book
5 photos featuring Ballarat School of Mines librarian Heather Durant. Most of them also include VIce-Chancellor David James and Nichael Adderman outside the Ballarat School of Mines Administraton building, ballarat school of mines, heather durant, david james, jenny leveston, michael aderman, library, a building, administration building -
Federation University Art Collection
Textile, Paula Do Prado, Flagwork #1, 2009
Paula DO PRADO Born Montevide, Uruguay Arrived Australia September 1986 Paula Do Prado holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Textiles) with First Class Honours and a Master of Fine Arts from Art & Design at the University of New South Wales.Her works are compelling, multi-layered and rich with cultural references surrounding concepts of identity, race and gender. Her practice draws on materials, sayings and imagery collected from many different sources including the generations of her family history. By sharing her own personal stories, her work creates a dialogue around issues of immigration and multiculturalism, which are just as relevant now as ever. Triptych flag, textiles, button, available -
Federation University Art Collection
Painting, Tim Vagg, L'Australie Pittoresqe, 2011
Tim VAGG (15 February 73 - ) Born Canberra, A.C.T. Between 1991 and 1996 Tim Vagg completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) at the University of Ballarat (now Federation University). His work themes often relate to stories of Australian history and its people. Painting of blindfolded man boxing a kangaroo. This work is from 'The Boxer Paintings' inspired by the era of Jimmy Sharman,s Boxers (early 1900s.Verso TIM VAGG 2011alumni, kangaroo, fauna, boxing kangaroo -
Federation University Art Collection
Artwork, other, Kristin McFarlane, 'Wings to Learning' by Kristin McFarlane, 2007, 2007
Kristin McFARLANE An Australian artist who combines graphic design, glass, botanical specimens, photography, encaustic painting, print and typography to explore fragility, nature and beauty. Kristin studied graphic design followed by a Graduate Diploma and Master of Fine Arts in glass at Monash University, Melbourne. Since graduating in 2004 she has undertaken public and private commissions and exhibitions including works for the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Monash University and Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan. Kristin designed and created the trophies for the Australian of The Year Awards from 2005-2014. These glass panels celebrate the history of the Monash University site; its early days as Berwick showgrounds and Casey Arifield to its current use as a state of the art educational centre. Images sourced from: Berwick Nostalgia, Early days o Berwick and its surrounding ditricts, Beaconsfield, Upper Beaconsfield, Harkaway, Narre Warren North, Berwick Mechanics Institute and Free Library and Monassh University archives. Federation University Australia took on the Berwick campus after Monash departed from the campusmonash university, casey airfield, berwick showgrounds, federation university berwick campus, berwick, fused glass -
Federation University Art Collection
Work on paper, 'The True History of the Kelly-Gang" (Salote), Warby Ranges by Arlene TextaQueen, 2008
Arlene TEXTAQUEEN (1975= ) Born Perth, Western Australiagippsland campus art collection, ned kelly -
Canterbury History Group
Book, Bronwyn Hughes, Lights Everlasting: Australia’s commemorative stained glass from the Boer War to Vietnam, 2023
Almost hidden within religious buildings, hospitals, school chapels and civic buildings, stained-glass windows tell of Australians at war. Bronwyn Hughes focuses on commemorative stained glass—an overlooked art form—describing its rich artistic and architectural heritage and the artists and firms who created it. Memorial stained glass serves to depict and illuminate the men and women who fought and died for their faith and their country. It has a tragic beauty.255 pages with colour and black and white illustrations; notes, bibliography, indexnon-fictionAlmost hidden within religious buildings, hospitals, school chapels and civic buildings, stained-glass windows tell of Australians at war. Bronwyn Hughes focuses on commemorative stained glass—an overlooked art form—describing its rich artistic and architectural heritage and the artists and firms who created it. Memorial stained glass serves to depict and illuminate the men and women who fought and died for their faith and their country. It has a tragic beauty. world war 1914-1918, boer war, stained glass, monuments and memorials -
Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group
Work on paper - SCULPTURES, ART WORK IN BALLARAT, 1997
On one side of the page a list of all the statues in Ballarat from 1863 to 1940. On the other side, there is a thumbnail biography of Richard Armstrong Crouch who gifted statues of Prime Ministers of Australia in the BBG.Comprehensive list of all statues around Ballarat including names of "artwork", sculptor, date and description and benefactor of the Prime Minister's AvenuePhotocopied page, printed on both sides'Ballarat Botanical Gardens' Information, page 28 - 5/06/97 friends/statues.docjohn garner collection, garner, dr, art, sculptures, statues, sculptors, ballarat botanical gardens, ballarat, gardens -
Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group
Work on paper - Statue Valuations, Insurance Valuations of Public Sculptures, fountains and Monuments for the City of Ballarat, 1994, 11 April, 1994, 9/5/94 and 2012
Insurance valuations of public sculptures, fountains and monuments for the City of Ballarat: attention Ian Rossiter. (Town Clerk) valuations prepared by John Jones, Historian, Consultant, Valuer in Australian Art. Print--out contains valuations of the Statues in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens only and the criteria used for updating valuations. Unsigned though very likely written by John Garner.Important in knowing a valuation of each statue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in 1994.2 faxes, 1. 1page only. 2.7 pages and 1 copy of 3 pages,(Prime Ministers' busts). 1 page print- out and a copy Fax 1. 11 April 1994. Fax 2. is water damaged. Printed across the top of this fax 94-05-09 11:20 Fax No 6622400. Two folder ring marks on the left hand of each page of the faxes. Fax 2 is signed John Jones on p.6. No marks on print-out. statue valuations, statues of prime ministers, john jones, valuer, city of ballarat, ian rossiter, valuation criteria, value of the statues in the ballarat botanical gardens. total value of ballarat statues in 1994. lists of ballarat statues, sculptors, dates of when the statues were made, marble, slate, granite, bronze, sandstone, john garner collection, garner, dr, ballarat botanical gardens, gardens, ballarat -
Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group
Work on paper - Peter Blizzard, sculptor, 1940-2009, Obituary. "Inspired and Admired Artist", C 2009
The centre piece of the Ex-PoW memorial is Peter Blizzard's work in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. Obituary written by Gordon Morrison, Director, Ballarat Art Gallery.The Ex-PoW Memorial is a significant landmark in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens and many visitors come to pay their respects.Newspaper Article from the The Ballarat Courier with three coloured photographs. No precise date given; sometime in 2009.None.peter blizzard sculptor, peter blizzard obituary. pre-eminent australian sculptors, peter blizzard biography. blizzard's work in the ballarat botanical gardens, stone gardens journey. ex-pow memorial., blizzard, sculptor, john garner collection, garner, dr, ballarat botanical gardens, gardens, ballarat -
Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group
Work on paper - Richard Armstrong Crouch, b1868, Prime Ministers' Busts, Ballarat Botanical Gardens, 5/4/2010
R.A. Crouch gave generously in the form of gifts and bequests to the Ballarat Art Gallery and the city of Ballarat. Perhaps his most significant gift were the first busts of Australian Prime Ministers in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. His legacy, enabled the making of subsequent busts which came to form the Prime Ministers' Avenue.The Prime Ministers' Avenue in the Ballarat Botanic Gardens has taken on national significance over time and is seen as an important place to visit.One short paragraph and a coloured photograph of a Crouch family grave dated 5/4/2010Nonedoctor john garner, ballarat botanical gardens, prime ministers avenue, richard armstrong crouch, politician, prime ministers' busts -
Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group
Work on paper - Richard Armstrong Crouch. 1868-1949, War Service Records, 3/1915 - 4/1916
R.A.Crouch is remembered in Ballarat for his Ballarat Fine Art Gallery bequests and initiating the Avenue of Sculptures of Australian Prime Ministers in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens.Richard Armstrong Crouch is a significant figure in Ballarat's history having started the Prime Minister's Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens which has become a famous landmark in the city.6 pages of photocopies, grey in colour, with ring folder holes, left hand side of each page.P.5 4 lines of notes in blue biro written by John Garner concerning dates of Crouch's War Records. john garner, doctor, ballarat botanical gardens, prime ministers' avenue, bequests, ballarat fine art gallery, war service, barrister and solicitor, protectionist, labor party, philanthropist, benefactor., politics, central gardens, john garner collection, crouch, gradens, ballarat -
Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group
Work on paper - Richard Armstrong Crouch. 1868-1949, Notes on his life by John Garner
Richard Armstrong Crouch initiated the Avenue of Sculptures of Australian Prime Ministers in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. R.A.Crouch is mainly remembered for initiating the Prime Ministers' Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. 1 white sheet of paper; half a page of print. (3 copies)Nonejohn garner, doctor, ballarat botanical gardens, avenue of australian prime ministers, benefactor, ballarat fine art gallery bequest, politician, labor party, barrister and solicitor, protectionist, war record., lt colonel, richard armstrong crouch, crouch, john garner collection, gardens, ballarat -
Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group
Work on paper - Crouch, Richard Armstrong (1868-1949), Benefactor, Soldier and Politician
Richard Armstrong Crouch is remembered for initiating the Avenue of Prime Ministers' busts in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens and as a politician.R.A. Crouch was known for his gifts to Ballarat institutions and sporting clubs and as a politician.2 pages with a photograph of R.A.Crouch top right hand corner.Australian National University Logo and Melbourne University Press Logo at end of article.john garner, doctor, ballarat botanical gardens, ballarat fine art gallery, benefactor, prime ministers' avenue, war service, politician, barrister and solicitor, protectionist, writer., crouch, john garner collection, gardens, ballarat -
Pyrenees Shire Council
painting, Maude Glover Fleay, Wind Damage by Maude Glover Fleay, 1932
A painter who studied under Frederick McCubbin, Glover-Fleay was regarded for her natural history subject matter. She was also a writer and music teacher, and in the 1930s she established a reputation for painting Australian marsupials. Her works are included in the Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection, Victoriasignificant as a work of art by modernist era woman artist, locally significant to the Central Highlands Region of Victoria as a representation of local landscape and/or culture watercolour painting of a landscape scene with large treeSigned: Glover-Fleay 32 Verso: Wind damage WIND DAMAGE Winchelsea Kildean -
Pyrenees Shire Council
painting, The Crows Nest, Warapingo Beaufort by Maude Glover Fleay, 1930
Maude Glover-Fleay studied under Frederick McCubbin, Glover was regarded for her natural history subject matter. She was also a writer and music teacher, and in the 1930s she established a reputation for painting Australian marsupialssignificant as a work of art by a modern era woman artist, locally significant to the Central Highlands Region of Victoria as a representation of local landscape and/or culture watercolour painting of a landscape with large tree at centresigned: Glover Fleay 30 (lower right) -
Pyrenees Shire Council
painting, The Morning After the Storm by Maude Glover Fleay, 1930
Maude Glover-Fleay b. 1869 was a painter who studied under Frederick McCubbin. Glover-Fleay was regarded for her natural history subject matter. She was also a writer and music teacher, and in the 1930s she established a reputation for painting Australian marsupials. Her works are inlcuded in the Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection, Victoria significant as a work of art by a modernist-era woman artist, locally significant to the Central Highlands Region of Victoria as a representation of local landscape and/or culture watercolour picture of a fallen treesigned: Glover-Fleay '30 pyrenees, maude glover-fleay -
Pyrenees Shire Council
painting, Storm Tossed, Twisted and Torn by Maude Glover Fleay, 1934
Maud Glover-Fleay b. 1869 A painter who studied under Frederick McCubbin, Glover-Fleay was regarded for her natural history subject matter. She was also a writer and music teacher, and in the 1930s she established a reputation for painting Australian marsupials. Glover-Fleay's work is included in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria significant as a work of art by a modernist-era female artist, locally significant to the Central Highlands Region of Victoria as a representation of local landscape and/or culture painting of a large treeSigned: Glover-Fleay 34 (lower right) Verso: Storm Tossed TWISTED AND TORN -
Pyrenees Shire Council
painting, Dry Swamp by Maude Glover Fleay, 1935
"Maud Glover-Fleay b. 1869 A painter who studied under Frederick McCubbin, Glover was regarded for her natural history subject matter. She was also a writer and music teacher, and in the 1930s she established a reputation for painting Australian marsupials. Work is included in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria painting Signed: Glover-Fleay 35 (lower right) Verso: DRY SWAMP -
Wyndham Art Gallery (Wyndham City Council)
Painting, Tony Albert, Interior Composition (with Appropriated Aboriginal Design Vase) IX, 2022
Tony Albert’s 2022 solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, Remark, continues the artist’s investigation into the imagery and identification of appropriated Indigenous Australian iconography in domestic decoration and design. Incorporating fabric from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, Remark sees Albert expand on his acclaimed Conversations with Margaret Preston series dimensionality, critically engaging with the fabric in his own right. Like the fabric of Australian society, the appropriated Indigenous imagery printed on souvenir tea towels intertwines in a complicated web of national identity. These are not images by Aboriginal people and our voices and autonomy continued to be silenced through the object’s inauthenticity. As a country we must reconcile with these objects’ very existence. They are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that should not be forgotten. As an artist this juxtaposition and tension fascinates me. Tony Albert’s multidisciplinary practice investigates contemporary legacies of colonialism, prompting audiences to contemplate the human condition. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, Albert explores the ways in which optimism can be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses important questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories. Albert’s technique and imagery are distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with an urban conceptuality. Appropriating textual references from sources as diverse as popular music, film, fiction, and art history, Albert plays with the tension arising from the visibility, and in-turn, the invisibility of Aboriginal People across the news media, literature, and the visual world. australian first nations art, colonialisation -
Wyndham Art Gallery (Wyndham City Council)
Painting, Tony Albert, Interior Composition (with Appropriated Aboriginal Design Vase) VII, 2022
Tony Albert’s 2022 solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, Remark, continues the artist’s investigation into the imagery and identification of appropriated Indigenous Australian iconography in domestic decoration and design. Incorporating fabric from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, Remark sees Albert expand on his acclaimed Conversations with Margaret Preston series dimensionality, critically engaging with the fabric in his own right. Like the fabric of Australian society, the appropriated Indigenous imagery printed on souvenir tea towels intertwines in a complicated web of national identity. These are not images by Aboriginal people and our voices and autonomy continued to be silenced through the object’s inauthenticity. As a country we must reconcile with these objects’ very existence. They are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that should not be forgotten. As an artist this juxtaposition and tension fascinates me. Tony Albert’s multidisciplinary practice investigates contemporary legacies of colonialism, prompting audiences to contemplate the human condition. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, Albert explores the ways in which optimism can be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses important questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories. Albert’s technique and imagery are distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with an urban conceptuality. Appropriating textual references from sources as diverse as popular music, film, fiction, and art history, Albert plays with the tension arising from the visibility, and in-turn, the invisibility of Aboriginal People across the news media, literature, and the visual world. australian first nations art, colonialisation -
Wyndham Art Gallery (Wyndham City Council)
Painting, Tony Albert, Interior Composition (with Appropriated Aboriginal Design Vase) X, 2022
Tony Albert’s 2022 solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, Remark, continues the artist’s investigation into the imagery and identification of appropriated Indigenous Australian iconography in domestic decoration and design. Incorporating fabric from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, Remark sees Albert expand on his acclaimed Conversations with Margaret Preston series dimensionality, critically engaging with the fabric in his own right. Like the fabric of Australian society, the appropriated Indigenous imagery printed on souvenir tea towels intertwines in a complicated web of national identity. These are not images by Aboriginal people and our voices and autonomy continued to be silenced through the object’s inauthenticity. As a country we must reconcile with these objects’ very existence. They are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that should not be forgotten. As an artist this juxtaposition and tension fascinates me. Tony Albert’s multidisciplinary practice investigates contemporary legacies of colonialism, prompting audiences to contemplate the human condition. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, Albert explores the ways in which optimism can be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses important questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories. Albert’s technique and imagery are distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with an urban conceptuality. Appropriating textual references from sources as diverse as popular music, film, fiction, and art history, Albert plays with the tension arising from the visibility, and in-turn, the invisibility of Aboriginal People across the news media, literature, and the visual world. australian first nations art, colonialisation -
Wyndham Art Gallery (Wyndham City Council)
Painting, Marlene Gilson, Waa Waa - Crow Feathers, 2021
Waa Waa – Crow Feathers is a painting from Aunty Marlene Gilson’s 2022 exhibition ‘Bunjil Wour Kun Ya – Spirit of My Ancestors’. This work tells the story of Waa-Waa, the first Wadawurrung to see a white man, Matthew Flinders and his crew surveying the southern Australian coastline near the You Yangs on 1 May 1802. Speaking to Wyndham Art Gallery’s curatorial framework themes of Foregrounding, Habitat and Localism, the work portrays in Wadawurrung lore the first sighting of a European and acknowledges Australian First Nations peoples original and ongoing connections with land, history, politics and knowledges of place. The scene is overlooking the You Yangs which is deeply connected with the local place and habitat of the Werribee Plain. Aunty Marlene Gilson is a Wathaurung (Wadawarrung) Elder living on country in Gordon, near Ballarat. Marlene Gilson’s multi-figure paintings work to overturn the colonial grasp on the past by reclaiming and re-contextualising the representation of historical events. Learning her Wathaurung history from her grandmother, Gilson began painting while recovering from an illness. The artist’s meticulously rendered works display a narrative richness and theatrical quality akin to the traditional genre of history painting. Gilson, however, privileges those stories relating to her ancestral land, which covers Ballarat, Werribee, Geelong, Skipton and the Otway Ranges in Victoria. Often including her two totems, Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow, Gilson’s paintings not only reconfigure historical narratives, but display her spiritual connection to Country. australian first nations art, cultural story, australian painting, wathaurung, female artist -
Federation University Bookplate Collection
Work on paper - Bookplate, EX LIBRIS UNICORNIS TRAKAI HISTORY MUSEUM
After a quiet period, interest in bookplates in Australia began to increase in the early 1970s, Entrepreneurial art and book collectors such as Edwin Jewell and others commissioned multiple Bookplate designs from a range of well known fine artists. At a 1997 meeting in Melbourne of the Ephemera Society of Australia Edwin Jewell and others announced the formation of the Australian Bookplate Society. The society was instrumental in promoting the art of the bookplate through establishment of the Australian Bookplate Design competition. The competition includes a design award for secondary schools students.Two medieval figures holding banners on bridge against castle. Trumpets to left and banners with words Ex Libris Unicornis on left banner and Trakai History Museum on right banner. triangular impress into bridge mid-lower centre of image.Trakai L-1 A/P T Alexaidrocha 2020.trakai history museum, keith wingrove memorial trust, australian bookplate design awards 2021, tatiana -
Merri-bek City Council
Photograph, Peta Clancy, Undercurrent, 2018-19
Peta Clancy is a descendent of the Bangerang people from South-Eastern Australia. She explores hidden histories of colonisation in Australia. Through manipulating photographic prints, she reconstructs these hidden histories in a contemporary setting. In 2018, Clancy was awarded the inaugural Fostering Koorie Art and Culture grant from the Koorie Heritage Trust. The grant enabled her to collaborate with the Dja Dja Wurrung community to create a body of work investigating massacre sites on Dja Dja Wurrung country. The exhibition Undercurrent at the Koorie Heritage Trust focussed on a massacre site submerged under water. Clancy says of the exhibition and this work: ‘I explored this site as a metaphor for the hidden history of many massacres throughout Australia and the denial of this aspect of our history and the trauma these sites evoke’. -
Merri-bek City Council
Photograph - Ilford smooth pearl print, Atong Atem, Nyanluak, 2022
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Merri-bek City Council
Work on paper - Charcoal and pages from Aboriginal Words and Place Names, Jenna Lee, Without us, 2022
Jenna Lee dissects and reconstructs colonial 'Indigenous dictionaries' and embeds the works with new cultural meaning. Long obsessed with the duality of the destructive and healing properties that fire can yield, this element has been applied to the paper in the forms of burning and mark-making. In Without Us, Lee uses charcoal to conceal the text on the page, viewing this process as a ritualistic act of reclaiming and honouring Indigenous heritage while challenging the oppressive legacies of colonialism. Lee explains in Art Guide (2022), ‘These books in particular [used to create the proposed works] are Aboriginal language dictionaries—but there’s no such thing as “Aboriginal language”. There are hundreds of languages. The dictionary just presents words, with no reference to where they came from. It was specifically published by collating compendiums from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, with the purpose to give [non-Indigenous] people pleasant sounding Aboriginal words to name children, houses and boats. And yet the first things that were taken from us was our language, children, land and water. And the reason our words were so widely written down was because [white Australians] were trying to eradicate us. They thought we were going extinct. The deeper you get into it, the darker it gets. But the purpose of my work is to take those horrible things and cast them as something beautiful.’Framed artwork