Description
This piece was produced in 2007 in response to a competition titled Drawing Together. It was about the 40th anniversary of Aboriginal Reconciliation in Australia. When I first heard about the competition, I was intrigued and started to familiarize myself with all the history and the debates that were going on at the time.?All arguments were pointing to the land and its development. This inspired the question: what would it look like if Aborigines were to develop their own cities with western technology? Compounded in this is the fact that Aborigines generally adopt an?aerial?viewpoint in their paintings. They also often employ earthy colors and patterns. After a few weeks of research and study I came up with the idea of blending a western city onto an aboriginal craft. I, of course, still had the issue of being a white Australian cutting too close to aboriginal turf and running the risk of offending them with my ignorance of their symbols. What if I drew something too close to home, eg. a symbol dear to them which is out of context? In the end, I tried to avoid this situation as much as possible. Hence these pieces were born…the first of which then went on to become a finalist and exhibited in the National Archives of Australia for a month. Thankfully, 6 out of the 7 prize winners were Aboriginals. That somehow made me feel good!
