On 29 April 1770 James Cook of the British Royal Navy landed at Kamay, which Europeans later named Botany Bay, New South Wales. The area, like all of Australia, was of course already inhabited and had been for millennia. Kamilaroi artist Reko Rennie highlights this fact and marks the 250th anniversary of Cook’s arrival with a massive outdoor installation titled REMEMBER ME.
Rennie’s memorial is a giant illuminated billboard, some 25 metres long and five metres high, that outlines the words REMEMBER ME in blood red.
Reko Rennie said of his work and the anniversary, “I choose not to celebrate the arrival of colonial invaders and the dispossession of our land. Instead I want to acknowledge the original inhabitants whose lives were changed forever on this day, as well as affirm our survival, and reiterate that sovereignty was never ceded.”
Carriageworks director and CEO Blair French said, “We celebrate the continuation of Aboriginal presence and place through REMEMBER ME at the entrance to Carriageworks, a constant reminder of the continuing impact of invasion.”
French added that he hoped that the anniversary would trigger positive cultural introspection. He said, “we are reminded of the importance of art and artists in highlighting those histories we must not forget, whilst pointing forward to better, more inclusive futures.”
REMEMBER ME is on view outside Carriageworks for all of 2020.
View a video of the work here.
Until 2026, Wanneroo Regional Art Gallery will be showing 53 original artworks by one of the most famous artists of the 20th century: Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol ICONS includes famous works such as Elvis (1963), Campbell’s Soup Cans (1968) and Marilyn (1967).
For the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Paris-based Fondation Cartier has commissioned 14 new works by Indigenous artists across the globe, curated by renowned Kuku Yalanji artist, Tony Albert.
From revamped industrial sites to brand new spaces in Sydney, to openings in Adelaide, Melbourne, Cottesloe and Darwin—across Australia there’s a flurry of new and reopening gallery activity.
With scores of artists in the current 24th Biennale of Sydney, we look at nine artists from around the world participating in the event, from a Japanese queer icon to a Polish film director, to creations of Māori barkcloth to Indian tattoos.
An exhibition at UQ Art Museum centres the relationship between culture, tradition and the ocean, and illuminates how intergenerational storytelling, tied to oceanic themes, might subvert settler-colonial narratives.
CREATION is a new religion by artist Deborah Kelly, radically rethinking how we collectively come together. Having engaged with communities nation-wide, inviting audiences to dance, sing, listen and perform together, Kelly is now taking CREATION to regional Victoria. Curator Ineke Dane talks with Kelly about why she wanted to start a new religion, and where it will go in the future.
