Unknown man with a beard [picture] / Julie Dowling
- Bib ID:
- 3260095
- Format:
- Picture
- Author:
- Dowling, Julie, (Julie Ann) 1969-
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Description:
-
- 2003
- 1 painting : acrylic, red ochre & plastic on canvas; 80 x 50 cm.
- Summary:
-
"This picture is the first of a series dealing with ethnographic objectification of our ancestors as Indigenous Australians. I question as to why these photographs continue to remain unconnected to their descendents and from their nations today. I painted these pictures as a personal decolonizing process whereby I investigate other examples of such imagery. I gain a deeper understanding of the experience shared by my great grandmother, Melbin who was taken to England as an exhibit in 1883-84 with her baby daughter, my grandmother, Mary Oliver. In a sense this is an icon to this man's life whatever it may have been and that I acknowledge his existence as an Indigenous person today. The background of this picture is painted to illustrate the perceptions that Australian 'progress' was defined by the apparent 'lack' of Indigenous nations when compared to their colonizers" -- Artist statement.
Artist statement continues: "In a sense this is an icon to this man's life whatever it may have been and that I acknowledge his existence as an Indigenous person today. Behind this man are several layers of symbols, landscape and words. Layer 1: Long landscape with red hills, blue sky and clouds representing the power he has to bring rain clouds. Layer 2: Coloured transparent graphic of a cityscape in red, blue and yellow. Layer 3: Text in bold times Roman style representing the high Victorian newspaper text used to describe Indigenous 'activity' on the Australian frontier. Layer 4: Coloured dots defining the outlay of a cityscape."
- Notes:
-
- Condition: Good.
- This picture was painted from a photograph of an unidentified man with a beard and folded arms, taken by B.Goode & Co. 'Portrait of unidentified Aboriginal man with beard and folded arms, South Australia,' held at PIC/8310 LOC A52
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136973005
- Subject:
- Terms of Use:
- Copyright restrictions may apply.
- Exhibited:
- Exhibited: Treasures Gallery 2010: A Preview, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 22 April - 19 July 2009.
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Artistic
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2003
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