Remain 2018

Activism can come in many forms, including through poetry, music and film. In this video work, Hoda Afshar addresses Australia’s contentious border protection policy and the human rights of asylum seekers. Filmed on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, the work follows a group of stateless men who remained on the island following the closure of the infamous immigration detention centre in October 2017. The centre housed people who had fled other countries and were seeking asylum in Australia. Rather than make a straightforward ‘documentary’ work, Afshar used the language of poetry, performance and song in this work. She says, this ‘forces the viewer to confront their own incomprehension, as well as the very inexplicableness of the situation that these men face’.

One of the stateless men in Afshar’s video is Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish Iranian writer, activist and refugee who spent six years on Manus Island. During this time he published poems and articles online about life in the centre and became a spokesperson for the men in his compound.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees a ‘stateless’ person is someone who is not considered as a national by any state. What does it mean to ‘belong’ to a nationality, and what rights might be denied to stateless persons?

Kulai pamle (First family) 2017

Hans Ahwang’s neckpiece, Kulai pamle (First family), is based on his family history. His maternal family, the Ware family, were one of the first families to leave Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait in the early 1900s to resettle on the eastern side of Moa Island at Wug Village. Made from sea hibiscus acquired from Saibai Island, the hoop lei features moon shells collected off the coral reef of Mua, and feathers from Ahwang’s garden on Mua, as well as green feathers from the emerald dove of the Torres Strait. Describing his process Ahwang states: ‘This lei is inspired by the lifestyle and the culture of my people, it’s important to continue to do some things the old ways and learn from the Elders, that’s why I am doing the rekindling projects with the young people of Mua’.

Rainbow flag 1978 designed, 2018 manufactured

Rainbow flag is a widely recognised emblem of pride and activism for the LGBTQI+ community. Each of the six coloured stripes represents a different meaning: red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for serenity and violet for spirit. The flag was conceived by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco–based activist and designer who created it for the city’s Gay Freedom Day Parade, held on 25 June 1978. Baker refused to trademark his design so it would remain in the public domain, making it freely available for anyone to use. This unrestricted access has contributed significantly to the adoption of the rainbow by LGBTQI+ communities around the world and has been applied to everything from stationery to social media image filters.

An ‘open source’ design is one that is freely available for anyone to use. There is a global movement to make software and other useful designs open source.
This movement challenges the notion that design is purely a commercial act. If you could design something to share with others freely – what would it be?

The Truth hurts 2020

Richard Bell is a contemporary artist and activist whose work is underpinned by a direct and unsettling satirical humour and a sharp political edge that attests to a lifelong commitment to Aboriginal social justice, land rights and sovereignty. This work is a telling response to the Black/Blak Lives Matter movement, as Bell states: ‘The global reaction to the US Black Lives Matter movement has been phenomenal. It appears that the US has reached a kind of reckoning where so many of their people are saying enough is enough. There was pushback to that, like the emergence of the racist response that is All Lives Matter. This just happens to coincide with a President of the United States whose tally of lies during his term in office is in excess of 20,000’.

Ku – Camp dog 2015 and Laughing ku 2015

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Off-piste bench 2015

Jonathan Ben-Tovim’s Off-piste bench playfully explores the idea of ‘up-cycling’, the process of creating new artefacts and products from unwanted products and waste materials. Ben-Tovim explains, ‘products can suddenly lose their value just because they are a few years old, even if they have a lot of amazing technology in them. I thought it was interesting to show that when things are repurposed in a new context, all of a sudden they can seem valuable again’. Off-piste bench demonstrates how the perception of material value can be manipulated, celebrated and co-opted through the design process.

Heala 2018

Hannah Brontë creates installations that bring together diverse media, including sound, sculpture and moving image, to explore language used in popular culture regarding womxn, specifically Black/Blak womxn. Her work centres on resilience, matriarchal futures and challenging current social structures. Brontë works hard to intertwine the knowledge of her female ancestors in each work she creates. With unrelenting strength, Brontë imbues her work with lived experiences, often articulating moments of joy within the grief and loss. In this work Brontë uses the colour orange to refer to the first colour a baby sees inside the womb. Heala is cyclical and unending, dedicated to a lost friend; it is complex and powerful.

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

The sea between A and I 2014–2015

Louisa Bufardeci’s series of needlepoints The sea between A and I references locations in the Indian Ocean between Australia and Indonesia. Based on media reports about boat accidents that killed refugees on the journey from their homelands to seeking asylum in Australia, the artist researched the GPS coordinates of these incidents. She searched for the locations on Google Earth, looking for shapes that resemble human figures in the water. She took screenshots of the satellite images before turning them into needlepoint charts on gridded paper, to recreate with embroidery. Bufardeci often uses the traditional craft of embroidery in her works to transform statistics and data. Through her slow and careful process she provides us with a new view on important world events and political issues.

Do modern technologies and news media make us more sympathetic to the plight of others … or do they desensitise us through overexposure? How do world events, such as conflicts and refugee crises, affect you personally?

Women in mourning 2012 from the Ritual and Ceremony series 2012–13

This work represents the mourning practices of Aboriginal people along the Murray/Darling Rivers. It talks about loss of land, language and cultural practices. I worked with 38 Aboriginal men and women who represent the 38 tribes of Victoria. The women are dressed in long black dresses and have white marks across their eyes that represent our mourning practices today. Everyone involved had the opportunity to share their stories of loss, sorrow and mourning.

– Maree Clarke

Last the blast 2006

Susan Cohn explores the politics and power embedded in the making and wearing of jewellery. Last the blast is a ‘bombproof’ necklace containing the identification details of the wearer alongside a personal message. In the event of being caught in a bomb blast, the necklace would protect this information, offering the wearer a lasting ‘voice’. Cohn says: ‘that piece came from watching an interview … with parents who had lost a daughter in the [2002] Bali bombings. And they were saying that they didn’t have anything left of their daughter … What if I made something that could send a message back?’ This work exemplifies the capacity of jewellery to act as both a symbolic and a functional object.

Jewellery has long been part of the way people express their individuality. Can you think of ways that jewellery can make a social statement?

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

The Yowie 2017

This video work references Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly series. Cross has filmed his own version of the Kelly character in an Australian Army ‘ghillie suit’, colloquially called a ‘Yowie’. The bark helmet is made from the wood of an Australian eucalypt and has been painted with a white ochre stripe standing in for the rectangular void where the eyes would be. The figure is motionless, with the only reference to the passage of time being the gentle ripples in the water and the rustling of the reeds. At one point a singular fish jumps in the background. If you are not patient, you will miss it.

What are the stories and narratives that define our cultural and national identity? What do they signify and how might introducing different views change the way we understand them?

Ngalpan Buway lei (Our family lei) 2017

Ngalpan Buway lei (Our family lei) is a collaborative neckpiece made by Theresa Clermont, Shirley Daniel, Dadib Ingui and Bonita Kaida. Coming together at the lei workshop on Saibai Island, the women shared experiences of Elders teaching them to bead, weave and make jewellery from natural materials found across the Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Turning their focus to recycling material resources at hand on Saibai, they developed a technique for making cylinders from aluminium soft drink cans. With PNG visible from the banks of Saibai, the Cassowary feathers are purchased from PNG day traders and incorporated to symbolise the strong ties between the people of Saibai and PNG.

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

Friendship love truth 2013 from the On Top of the World: Flags for Melbourne series 2013

Flags evolved centuries ago as part of military campaigns and battles as ‘field signs’ or visual tools for identification and communication across distance. Today they have many common purposes, but retain their roots in communicating identity. Alongside the communication of nationality, flags have been regularly adopted as part of festivities, rallies and cultural events. They are fundamentally understood, across many situations and cultures, as a way of stating identity and belief. These works were created as part of a public art project, called Flags for Melbourne, developed by Melbourne print studio Spacecraft. They invited artists to explore the symbolic, semantic and decorative potential of flags, considering both their customary use, as well as alternative opportunities for flag-waving. Kate Daw’s flag was created for Melbourne’s famous Art Deco Gothic style Manchester Unity Building, which also inspired the graphic language of her project

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

A corny world flag 2013 from the On Top of the World: Flags for Melbourne series 2013

Destiny Deacon is one of Australia’s boldest and most acclaimed contemporary artists, whose thoughtful and nuanced work offers a snapshot of contemporary Australian life from a Blak perspective. Provocative and political, Deacon uses humour as a tool to disarm her audience, reminding us that ‘serious’ art can also have a sense of humour. The artist’s A corny world flag was flown atop the Old Arts Building at the University of Melbourne.

The Old Arts Building at the University of Melbourne is a landmark historic building at the centre of Melbourne’s oldest university. How do you think placing A corny world flag on top of this building might have changed the way people viewed the building or the university?

Messiah Luzab Lera Kaubo Arsir II (The whole island of Mer, making things, making lei II) 2017

This collaborative work pays homage to the traditional lei. The central painting of the Octopus and silver and enamel totems reference the tribes of Mer: Komet, Zagareb, Meuram, Magaram, Geuram, Peibre, Meriam‑Samsep, Piadram and Dauer Meriam. Looking closely, you can find celebrations of some of the many species found on Mer, including Tup (the Sardine), Wanpun (the Gecko), Arti (the Octopus), Iwer (yellow and black fish), eneu (wongai seed), ero (bell fruit), lusik (flowers), lulam (leaves), lukurup (wild cherry tomatoes), weswes (coral), pet (shell) and gar (the mangrove pod). The combination of many artists’ hands has instilled this monumental lei with a sense of identity and place specific to the people of Mer and signifies the artists’ strong connection with their land and waterways.

Flag 11, Ah Saw 1914 2020

Like the portraits for his famous Aussie seriies street poster campaign, Adelaide-based artist and activist Peter Drew found these photographs of Ah Saw in the National Archives of Australia. In 1914 Ah Saw applied for an exemption to a dictation test that was introduced as part of the White Australia policy in 1901. It required arrivals to Australia to write fifty words in any European language, as dictated by an immigration officer. After 1905, the officer could choose any language at all. A Chinese immigrant, for example, could be asked to write fifty words in French, Italian or another language. Even returning residents who were born in Australia could be asked to take the test, which would today be seen as racial discrimination and profiling.

Obalow (Mermaid) 2017

Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been illegally discarded by workers on fishing vessels out in the oceans. They are referred to as ghost nets because they are almost invisible in the water, causing issues for aquatic life by tangling up creatures and suffocating the marine fauna. Artists from Pormpuraaw began collecting these nets ten years ago to create lively, colourful woven sculptures.
Obalow, the mermaid is also known as kunnganga in Wik‑Mungkan language; they can be a male or female and are described as beautiful half fish/half human, and are known to wail or sing like a whale’s song.

A strategy to infiltrate the homes of the bourgeoisie 2005

Forty-five letters spell out the title of this work, which explores ideas of class and the Situationist International, a political and artistic movement active in Europe from 1957 through to 1972. Emily Floyd was inspired by spatial strategies they employed, in particular around the 1968 student demonstrations in Paris. Their ideas of occupying space with language and text have influenced her work, as has the way they engaged with the concept of class, taking aim at bourgeois, or middle class, institutions such as marriage, religion and private property. Floyd creates works that suggest how contemporary art can function as an educational platform for stimulating debate about social, political and cultural ideas. As you walk around the letters, consider your own relationship to the ideas in the work.

Emily Floyd asks viewers to engage with ideas of class which she says we don’t always think about in Australia. Are there different classes in Australian society?

How is this evident and what are the factors that lead to divisions? How might we reduce the inequalities and divisions between groups? Is it possible to have a classless society?

The landing 2018

Senior Victorian painter and Elder Marlene Gilson depicts Lieutenant James Cook’s landing at Botany Bay, and the people of the Eora Nation who encountered them. The scene is populated with ships, figures, trees and animals, and is imbued with a foreboding sense of drama, as a turning point in the nation’s history commences. Drawing inspiration from illustrations on biscuit tins, Indian miniatures and small dolls’ houses, Gilson has provided an Indigenous perspective on the story of colonisation in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of Cook’s landing in 1770.

Revolution stool L 2016 from the Remolten N1: Revolution series 2016

GREAT THINGS 2 PEOPLE (GT2P) uses research and experimentation to push boundaries and discover new possibilities in material and formal expression. Revolution stool L is a boulder‑like stool made from stoneware and coated in volcanic rock, which has been re‑melted in a kiln using a similar technique to glazing ceramics. Experimenting with pieces of cooled lava from Chile’s Villarrica volcanoes, GT2P collects a porous lightweight black rock known as basaltic andesite from the volcano to produce the lava coating they call Quitralco, which means ‘fire water’ in Mapudungun, the language of the Indigenous people of south‑central Chile and west‑central Argentina. The stool is an example of designers innovating with ancient material and craft processes in a contemporary context.

Guerrilla Girls Portfolio Compleat 1985–2012 + Upgrade 2012–2016 1985–2016

The Guerrilla Girls are a group of anonymous female artists who produce posters, stickers, books and videos that expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world and culture at large. The group formed in 1985 in reaction and protest to the exhibition An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Of the 165 artists in the exhibition, only thirteen were women. An even smaller number were artists of colour, none of whom were women. They call themselves ‘the conscience of the art world’ and the group’s members protect their individual identities by wearing gorilla masks during public appearances and by adopting the names of deceased female icons, such as Edmonia Lewis, Käthe Kollwitz and Frida Kahlo.

Why do you think the artists prefer to remain anonymous? Think about ways in which anonymity could either help or hinder the artists’ intention? What other forms of anonymous protest can you think of?

Cow 2003

Subodh Gupta was born in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, one of the poorest and least developed areas of India. His work celebrates the visible traces of everyday life for many Indians. Gupta grew up in a devout Hindu household. Hindu is a religion that considers everything around us, and everywhere, to be imbued with the divine. By elevating humble objects found in domestic and street life, he provides an opportunity to appreciate the everyday, and to reflect on our place in the world.
Speaking of this sculpture of a bicycle with milk pails Gupta explains, ‘The bicycle is like a mechanised cow in the city. In the country if I wanted milk, I would go to the cows to get it; in the city it is delivered to you by bicycle’

Untitled 2014 and Untitled 2015

Our lives have always been torn and put together – people have always been pushed around. You see it in the streets, in the kids begging, those eyes, the way they look at you.

– Kay Hassan, 2000

This is what South African artist Kay Hassan says about these portraits, inspired by the people of Johannesburg. Hassan creates these large-scale ‘paper constructions’ by shredding billboard paper and gluing the tattered scraps of commercial advertisements back together to assemble large collages. In this way he is embracing and celebrating everyday materials that he finds in his city. The materials and techniques are as important as the finished portraits in capturing the character of Johannesburg.

Think about something that represents your neighbourhood or community. How could you turn this into a work of art?

Fiona Blackfish 2015 designed, 2016 manufactured from the Monstera Deliciosa, Vol. 1 series 2015

Designer Porky Hefer delights in creating humorous and playful situations in order to tackle serious subjects, such as animal extinction. Fiona Blackfish is a suspended killer whale nest seat, which encourages audiences to consider the majesty and fragility of killer whale populations around the world. Historically, hunting was the primary threat to killer whales. More recently, a combination of food shortages, chemical pollutants and habitat disturbance from the noise created by marine vessels and machinery, are hindering their ability to thrive. Hefer’s practice asks audiences to consider the different ways human activity affects the environment and its many life forms.

How can human actions based on respect and empathy shape positive contributions to the environment where you live?

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

Dress 2011

Since 2007 Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen has integrated traditional forms of craft with unconventional materials such as metal, interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation to create futuristic sculptural garments with a distinctive aesthetic, or visual style. This dress was designed for Icelandic singer Björk to wear during her 2012 Biophilia tour. It took several months to make and fuses machine and handwork to create the exaggerated forms. An early adopter of 3D‑printing techniques, van Herpen has been instrumental in redefining the conceptual and material language of contemporary fashion.

Early morning 2010, Will it ever work 2011 and Self portrait IV, 25 March 2012 2012

David Hockney has experimented with innovative technologies throughout his career and, in 2009, began drawing on touch screens with his first iPhone. He soon after moved on to a larger iPad screen, which is similar in scale to a traditional sketchbook. He prefers drawing using a stylus pen rather than his finger, and loves the range of colour, speed and mobility the iPad offers for his daily art‑making. The drawing application records each mark made in the production of his works, which helps Hockney challenge himself to draw faster and with greater economy. Through these humorous and joyful works Hockney reminds us to take note of the small moments in everyday life that often get overlooked.

How can you use electronic devices such as computers and tablets to make art and explore the world around you?

Menorah, beacon of hope 2018

Reimaging the traditional seven-chambered Jewish menorah, a lantern filled with consecrated olive oil, Huang has created a seven-slot revolver barrel loaded with bullet-shaped candles. While referencing the militarisation between Israel and Palestine, hope persists – as the candles burn, they leave empty casings, vases to hold flowers as a symbol of renewal. This work was produced for the 2018 exhibition Decoding Design, which explored how design can be used to reflect on traditions, confront stereotypes and consider alternative ways of interpreting the world around us. The exhibition invited German architect Manuel Canestrini, Israeli industrial designer Ilan El, and Chinese-born designer Yan Huang to produce new work that reinterpreted traditional objects from each other’s cultures.

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

A flag for the community of Princes Hill Primary 2013 from the On Top of the World: Flags for Melbourne series 2013

For this work artist Helen Johnson collaborated with students from Princes Hill Primary on the design, which is made up of a collage of students’ artworks. Princes Hill Primary was included as one of the sites for the Flags for Melbourne project because in 1901 when Australia became a Federation, Ivor Evans, a thirteen‑year‑old student of the school, entered a competition to design a flag. Evans was declared the winner along with four other people whose designs were almost identical, and the new flag was flown for the first time above the dome of the Melbourne Exhibition Building in September of that year.

What are some of the changes that have taken place in Australia since 1901 and how are these reflected in this flag?

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

If I was white 2002

Vernon Ah Kee’s work exposes the racism experienced by people of colour in Australian society. Ah Kee’s text speaks directly to a white audience through a text‑based chorus of Black voices. One reads, ‘If I was White I could walk down the street and people would pay no particular attention to me’. By turning the tables on his audience and switching the subjective positions of people’s experiences, Ah Kee pushes the ‘coloniser’ to consider the experiences that come with being colonised. This work references both the everyday experiences of people of colour in Australia and uses text as a means of protesting against racism.

Santa Cruz River 2017

Alexandra Kehayoglou takes a contemporary approach to the historical practice of rug making to create large‑scale textile installations that document and draw attention to landscapes under threat from development. Santa Cruz River depicts a section of Argentina’s last free-flowing glacial river, which has much Indigenous cultural significance and is home to many unique and endangered plant and animal species. The work responds to the Argentine government’s controversial decision to approve the construction of two Chinese state‑funded mega‑hydroelectric dams along the River, which will negatively influence its ecosystems. Kehayoglou’s practice harnesses the materials and techniques of craft and design to draw attention to the unseen environmental effects of globalisation and economic development.

Gazir lagoon II 2017

Gazir lagoon II by Louisa Nancy Kiwat and Fred Mislam Kiwat are lei made from the artists’ own collections of shells and seeds gathered over many years from the reef, beach and bush of Erub. Both born on Thursday Island and raised on Erub (Darnley Island), the Kiwats were married in 2004. The collaborative neckpieces represent masculinity and femininity, imbued with a sense of place, memory and identity, specific to their relationship.

Bridge table, large, prototype 2010

Honed over billions of years of evolution, the efficiency of natural systems is awe inspiring. Unlike human manufacturing, nature uses only what is essential, rarely wastes material and has found ways to create the strongest, lightest and most efficient structures possible. Bridge table is a futuristic dining table whose form is based on the growth patterns of bones and trees. Informed by the forces of nature, this work reveals that we are on the cusp of a new era of hyper efficient production – where man, computer and machine work together. Drawing on the mathematics of plant and bone growth, the structure of the table adds material only where it is structurally necessary.
Fabrication is guided by software that models these growth patterns and translates it into instructions that guide robotic tools and 3D printers.

Joris Laarman once said: ‘Technology is making things possible that were unimaginable even five years ago’.

What implications might the exponential growth of technologies have for how humans live and work in the future?

Samul Gy Mariyl (Coconut and cassowary feather spirits) 2017

Petta Laza made Samul Gy Mariyl as homage to her Athe (Grandfather) and Aka (Grandmother) in acknowledgment of Laza’s heritage, which extends to Badhu Island, Saibai Island, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Constructed from the parts of multiple coconuts, Laza peeled and shredded the outer layer of the fibrous husk to create the leaf elements threaded on the coconut shoot. The multiple faces with red mouths and tongues are made from the hard inner layer of the coconut shell.

<h3><em>Lights in the living room</em> 2017, <em>Smiley has no nose</em> 2015 and <em>Primer</em> 2015</h3>
Rich in narrative and irony, Tala Madani’s work depicts darkly comic and often theatrical stories, featuring bald, middle-aged men as the main protagonists.

In each of these three paintings, any supposed authority of the men is undermined in a critique of power relations, including that of male privilege. Madani upsets art-historical conventions, openly embracing caricature, gags and disarming visual simplicity. Her approach demonstrates a contemporary sense of sequencing, movement and speed influenced by cartoons, cinema, videos and television.

<em>Male privilege refers to the opportunities, authority and advantages that society often extends to men. In what ways do you think Madani’s representations of men highlight and challenge ideas of male privilege?</em>

Look 12 2018 Market collection, autumn–winter 2018–19

Frustrated by the environmentally destructive and socially exploitative practices that underpin much of the global fashion industry, Richard Malone has established a career exploring how luxury fashion can be done differently. Look 12 encompasses Malone’s commitment to researching and working with sustainable fabrics and ethical skilled labour to produce his collections. The halter top and bag are made from ocean waste and plastic bottles, which have been handwoven by expert weavers from the Oshadi weaving workshop, a collective of women weavers in Tamil Nadu, in the south of India. Malone has collaborated with the workshop since 2014 to develop approaches that integrate traditional and contemporary craft to offer experimental and sustainable new pathways for the luxury fashion industry.

Jangarra armchair 2017

Artists and designers from the Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, together with Thirroul-based designer Trent Jansen, designed and constructed Jangarra armchair. The work is an embodiment of a cautionary tale told to children in the desert region around Fitzroy Crossing. Jangarra, or the ‘man-killer’, is a big hairy man who hides behind large ant hills waiting to catch unsuspecting children. The human hair string that lends Jangarra its eerie presence was woven by Yangkarni Penny K-Iyons and Myarn Lawford, the last two remaining women in the Community able to practice and teach this unique skill. Jangarra armchair offers an example of how creative collaboration across cultures and communities can foster new relationships, reinvigorate old production techniques and enrich our sense of shared place and history.

Mr Lion (Dingo story ku) 2016

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Big ku 2016 and Ochre ku 2016

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Honey, have you got it? 1994 from the Rainbow Aphorism series 1994

David McDiarmid was an artist, designer and gay activist, and his work engages with issues relating to queer identity and history. Created in the years before his death of AIDS-related illnesses, the Rainbow Aphorisms series was produced by McDiarmid in response to the political, emotional and medical conditions of the AIDS epidemic. In this series, McDiarmid references the rainbow flag (first designed by Gilbert Baker) and the coded language of gay male urban subcultures. He uses aphorisms in his work, which are witty or pointed statements meant to emphasise an underlying truth. Other aphorisms from the series include So many pills so little time sweet; I’m too sexy for my T-cells; and Don’t ask, don’t tell, die alone.

‘I never saw art as being a safe thing.
I know that exists but that’s not something that involves me.’
– David McDiarmid, 1993

The Rainbow Aphorisms series shows how posters can be used as instruments for activism, as well as protest, encouraging change by drawing attention to marginalised or underrepresented communities.
Do you need to take risks in art to make a difference? What risks would this artist have taken in his work?

Flax chair 2015 designed, 2017 manufactured

Christien Meindertsma’s practice draws attention to the way industrialisation and mass‑manufacturing can obscure a product’s supply chain. Meindertsma reveals these stories through projects that speak to the origins of materials and the traditional craft practices from which mechanised production processes emerged. Flax chair was an outcome of Meindertsma’s intensive research into the cultivation, farming and processing of flax in the Netherlands. Historically flax was cultivated to produce linen cloth – once a booming industry in the area. Today Dutch linen mills lie dormant and the flax is exported to mega‑scale textile factories in Asia. Global production has moved to wherever the labour is cheapest. The chair is made from a new bioplastic material comprising flax and polylactic acid, which was invented as part of this research project by Meindertsma in collaboration with Amsterdam‑based manufacturer Label/Breed and textiles company Enkev.

Have you heard of modern slavery in the textile industry? Check your label – do you know where your clothes were made?

DVD Zone 5 from the Arrows series 2020

DVD Zone 5 is a fictionalised map of Europe and Asia from an imagined future where the once stable European Union has disintegrated into medieval fiefdoms. Metahaven uses familiar geographic mapping devices combined with wry humour to chart the developments and intersections of power, technology and territorial identities, in relation to the political landscapes in Europe, Russia and Central Asia. On this map the relics of historical empires such as the ‘Polish Empire’ are reinstated alongside newly established ones such as ‘North Ikea’ and ‘Central Phobia’. Metahaven employs the methods and graphic language of design to study and communicate complex and dynamic concepts such as populism, nationalism and geopolitics.

360 flip on country 2014

Claudia Moodoonuthi has painted six skateboards with colourful designs that express her connection to Country and ceremony of the Kaiadilt and Lardil peoples, of Bentinck Island, Queensland. The vibrant paintings on the face of the skateboards echo those of founding Kaiadilt artists. The bold stripes and dotted compositions beneath the wheels of the skateboards reveal Moodoonuthi’s deep familiarity with Lardil iconography as nurtured in her formative years. As a collection, these
skateboards show Moodoonuthi’s powers of invention on objects symbolic of modern Indigenous youth.

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

LANDFILL 2020

A mixed media artist primarily known for his non-figurative gestural paintings (using paint in free‑sweeping marks, or gestures), Clinton Naina utilises domestic materials as his medium, such as heritage‑coloured house paint, bitumen paint and domestic household bleach (White King). In this work, Naina addresses the escalating problem of landfill, as he states: ‘Remnants and evidence from the used‑only‑once popular commercial culture and disregarded throw‑away world. Bits and pieces on capitalism, imperialism and colonialism, all gathered together creating a consumers’ burial site, hidden deeply into our sacred earth. Colourful, shiny synthetic plastic objects, manufactured from toxic poisonous chemicals and gases forever there bleaching, polluting and looting our natural ecosystems. For the sake of the first world economy and someone’s so called wealth and greed. Safe, light blue surgical masks, worn to prevent the spread of airborne illness, death and disease. A white plastic shopping bag lies empty, full of nothingness, at a price that no one can really afford. Used only once more, that’s all. As Landfill’.

Starlight ku 2015 and Black ku 2016

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Ku (Camp dog) 2004, Baby blossum Ku 2016 and Champ ku 2016

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Brutus ku 2015

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Smiley Blue Eye 2016, Three legged ku 2016, Ancient ku 2016 and Blue boy ku 2018

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

Gyro, table 2016

The vast amount of plastic making its way into oceans and waterways (an estimated eight million tonnes globally per year) poses a significant threat to marine life and represents billions of dollars of ‘lost’ material value globally. Gyro, table displays a stunning surface of ‘ocean terrazzo’ made from hundreds of thousands of plastic pieces harvested from oceans and coastlines around the world. The pieces are organised by colour gradient and inlaid in a pattern that creates a kaleidoscopic diagram of the earth’s longitudinal and latitudinal lines. Through this contemporary reinterpretation of the eighteenth-century specimen table, Brodie Neill reframes plastic waste as a highly prized material, in the hopes of changing our behaviour and attitudes towards the use and disposal of plastics in our daily lives.

Did you know that microplastics have been discovered in some seafood that people eat? How much plastic do you use in a day? Do you know where it ends up when you throw it away?

Due to NGV procedures regarding light sensitive objects, this work has been removed from display for the remainder of the exhibition.

Watchword 2012

This work wants you to take action! Rivane Neuenschwander has long been interested in creating participatory works that invite consideration of contemporary moral and geopolitical issues. Here, you are invited to select from the different clothing labels that feature words adapted from handmade protest banners and slogans found on the internet, and pin them to the abstracted map of the world, or your own clothing. The artist intends that the choice of words, and how they are assembled together, manifests your personal values and hopes as the slogans are reformed and re‑enter the world.

What is the power of words? Consider the ways in which words are used to shape your view; for example, ‘asylum seeker’ versus ‘illegal immigrant’. What different connotations or feelings do each of these terms imply?

City walkers 2018

While planning for this work, Julian Opie asked a local photographer to set up his camera in various places around Melbourne and record the passers‑by. The photographer created hundreds of photographs and Opie selected the ones he preferred, then drew them in his London studio. In City walkers, Opie has reduced each person down to simple shapes, but has been able to retain their individuality by including elements of their personal style choices, such as a tattoo, a goatee or the logo on a T‑shirt. He says, ‘A gang of characters emerged, caught in mid stride, going about their business with bags or phones or cold drinks. Their random, momentary decisions became frozen into a set piece’.

Opie has a strong interest in art from the past. The configuration of this wall frieze was inspired by ancient Egyptian art but the work is also a picture of everyday life in twenty-first-century Melbourne.

Who am I 2014 from the You Started It … I Finish It series 2014

Humour can be a powerful strategy to draw attention to important issues. In this work Paola Pivi challenges our perception of polar bears as arctic predators by giving them a unique personality expressed through their vibrant colours, body language and playful poses. As with much of her work, the sculpture also expresses her concern about the vulnerability of the natural world. In Anchorage, Alaska, where Pivi has lived for many years, bears are a part of everyday life and she considers them her neighbours. For this work from her series of supernatural polar bears, You Started It … I Finish It she collaborated with a Canadian taxidermist to ensure the bodies of the bears are as true to life as possible.

Crown Land (till the ends of the earth) 2020

Crown Land (till the ends of the earth) utilises recognisable religious iconography as its foundation. It references the story of St George and the dragon from the Middle Ages, and the narrative of the soldier who kills the dragon, symbolising the defeat of evil. In this work, the soldier is replaced by a young Aboriginal woman battling the formidable dragon. Crown Land considers the pressures placed on First Peoples and their communities imposed by colonialism, highlighting government policies such as the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER), which is still in effect today, as well as exploitative mining industries and the local ramifications of global conflicts. The central figure represents strength, persistence, beauty, resistance and the everyday heroism of Aboriginal people today.

In 2017 First Nations representatives released ‘The Uluru Statement From the Heart’ seeking reform and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Australian Constitution. Since its release, support for the Statement has been growing.

150 year, Rorschach 2019

This painting depicts a landscape familiar to the artist from bushwalks in the NSW Southern Highlands. Ben Quilty had received permission from the Gundangara people, the traditional owners of the land on which the artist lives, to make work about one of their waterholes. During one visit, Quilty and his son came across a National Parks and Wildlife sign that described the location as ‘a favourite gathering place for locals for more than 150 years. With beautiful ferns and moss-covered rocks, it provides a quiet haven for swimming or just relaxing in the cool, quiet surrounds’. However, the waterholes have been important locations for the Gundangara people for millennia and Quilty created this painting in response to the ongoing institutional denial of Aboriginal history.

This painting is named after the Rorschach test; a psychological test in which a person’s interpretation of an inkblot picture is thought to reveal insights into their personality and emotions. What do you see?

in Pursuit of Venus 2015

Lisa Reihana’s live-action video is a reclamation of culture, inspired by the colonial nineteenth-century panoramic wallpaper, Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique (1804–05), produced by entrepreneur Joseph Dufour in Neoclassical France. Reihana employs twenty-first-century digital technologies to animate and reclaim the wallpaper, re-examining its conceptual framework and challenging historical and contemporary stereotypes. She creates a vast panoramic field populated by myriad First Nations people from throughout the Pacific and New Zealand. Where Les Sauvages was a fantasy that reflected the European obsession with ancient Greece, in Pursuit of Venus is enlivened with the sights and sounds of dance and cultural ceremonies enacted by Mäori and Pacific Islander performers.

Refugee flag 2016 designed, 2018 manufactured

Flags are powerful symbols. They are used to identify nations, communities and organisations, and to demonstrate solidarity or belonging. Yara Said designed the Refugee flag as a unifying symbol for the Refugee Olympic Team – the first ever team of stateless refugee athletes who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The flag design references the orange and black colouring of a standard issue life vest. Said says of the flag, ‘black and orange is a symbol of solidarity with all these brave souls that had to cross the sea to look for safety in a new country. Since I had to wear one I also have a personal engagement with the life vests, with these two colours’.

If you could design your own flag, one that represents your life experiences, values or community, what would it look like? What colours and designs would it incorporate and how could you use it to inspire change?

Sai (Fish fence) 2017

Rion Savage was born in 1974 in Mount Isa and presently works as the activities supervisor for the arts and crafts group on Erub (Darnley Island). With ancestry from Torres Strait, Cape York, Papua New Guinea, Jamaica and Europe, Savage learned to paint, weave, carve and make traditional dance costumes, including Zarzee (skirts) and Dari (headdresses), from his grandfather Sam Savage and his uncles, who remain important influences on his art. Sai (fish fence) is a woven lei made from insulation foam, sprayed with yellow enamel paint for effect. The weaving style is inspired by pandanas weaving and represents a traditional fish trap. Repurposing industrial materials, such as foam, rubber and aluminium to create art that can express cultural values and a sense of place, excites the artist.

As Savage says: ‘I love innovation and I love innovative art. Just last night I was thinking about how I love art because when you create something it inspires people’.

Ilwer (The morning star) 2017

Ilwer (The morning star) by Maryann Sebasio is made from black rubber adorned with a fringe of long blue and pink nylon‑silk threads. Sebasio has crocheted the blue thread around the perimeter of the black rubber circle and stitched shells collected from the Erub reef, in the Torres Strait, Queensland. Speaking about her practice Sebasio explains, ‘The works I create represent my ancestors and my culture, and incorporate materials from the environment on Erub Island that I have collected, like seeds, shells, and ghost nets that have washed up on the shore’.

We demand justice for Francisco Ramirez, José Luis Ramirez and Alvaro Jacinto, who were killed by MULT-PUP – UBISORT-PRI paramilitaries (Exigimos justicia para Francisco Ramirez, José Luis Ramirez y Alvaro Jacinto, quienes fueron asesinados por paramilitares del MULT-PUP – UBISORT-PRI) 2012 from the Exercises on Selective Mutism series 2012

In this work the artist Joaquin Segura has recovered a found object – a canvas banner discarded after a protest in Mexico City – and transformed it into a sculpture by applying layers of white paint to its once-coloured surface. Covering up the banner’s original political message is key to the work’s meaning. By painting the banner white, Segura is referring to ‘whitewashing’, a term used to describe the act of deliberately hiding incriminating information about something or someone. Segura is making a statement about the efforts of some people to silence others or to stop them from protesting or speaking up, through omitting or erasing information, or spreading misinformation. He also questions art’s potential to make political claims or to challenge authority.

Can we initiate change – positive or negative – by covering or concealing information, knowledge or the words of others?

Untitled (Layers of stuff building over time) 2014

Based on his own unique vision and quirky personal style, David Shrigley’s works reflect on the banality and absurdity of everyday life. Although he had a formal art education Shrigley does not demonstrate any traditional artistic skills in his work now. He draws and paints in the same way he did as a young child, for example using his own fingers rather than a paint brush.

We are used to seeing images accompanied by text all around us, on social media, on the TV, and on signs and advertisements, but in Shrigley’s works this relationship often is not immediately obvious. He prompts us to question the meaning between image and text and allows room for our own interpretation.

How do you interpret this work? How might this allude to change in our everyday lives?

Rocks happy to help: hold down 2017

‘I’m really interested in this idea of helping because of the idea that helping is an act of agency that is enabling of other things.’
– Simone Slee

In this video work we see the artist performing within a natural landscape over an extended period of time. As she balances between the unsteady plywood band and the rock, she herself becomes part of a sculptural assemblage in a way that shows how reliant her body is on the rocks around her in order to maintain balance. The work deals with ideas of gravity, but also, as the title suggests, the question of how an inanimate object such as a rock can offer support in the creation of a sculptural form, and how we all fundamentally rely on the forces and attributes of nature to enable our very existence.

Having agency means having the power to think for yourself, make decisions and take action. Have you ever considered if the nature surrounding you might have agency too? How might the landscape or places around you help to give you more agency?

How are you given agency by the help you receive from others?

33 objects that can fit through the hole in my pocket 2013

Charlie Sofo documents everyday findings and happenings through his art practice. This video comprises short vignettes in which the camera, locked on a shot of the artist’s feet, documents random objects – a vegetable peeler, a lighter, a tube of glue – falling down his trouser leg and landing on the floor. This work raises questions about perceived and actual value, the resourcefulness of artists, as well as the challenging economic conditions many artists work within. Sofo also humorously critiques how people might distinguish between trash or treasure.

Ore streams – Cabinet 2016–2017 and
Ore streams – Low chair 2016–2017

Studio Formafantasma produces design projects that aim to disrupt entrenched historical, political and social traditions. Underpinned by rigorous design research and material investigations, Ore streams is a collection of critical design objects that investigate the complexity and scale of the global market for e‑waste. Through in‑depth research, interviews and material experimentations, Formafantasma examined how e‑waste recycling, effectively ‘mining’ for the gold embedded in electronics, has become a huge and mostly unregulated black market. The vast majority of e‑waste is informally recycled in developing countries, where devices are burnt and broken, in often substandard conditions, to access precious metals. Formafantasma are drawing attention to this as a call for the protection of human health and the environment.

Have you heard of conflict metals? Did you know that there is gold inside your phone? Do you know what happens to your phone when you throw it away?

Coloured stones (Pavés colorés) 2015

Pascale Marthine Tayou often composes his works with objects he comes across while walking on the streets of cities around the world. The paving stones that make up this sculpture reference times of social unrest. During the May 1968 student protests in Paris, for example, stones such as these were ripped out of the streets and used to build barricades or as weapons against police and anti-revolutionary forces. The work demonstrates how everyday objects like paving stones can prompt us to think about change when considered in a specific context: in this case, the role of the stones in big moments in the history of human protest.

How could you change an everyday object to give it new potency or meaning, and to make it a symbol of protest or activism?

Coming soon at your neighbourhood 2008

This work by artist duo Thukral & Tagra is a statement on the rapid expansion of consumer culture in urban India. The artists use the dinosaurs as a metaphor to convey their theory that ‘our current modes of consumption are outdated and if we continue it may well also be humans who are extinct’. The logo appearing throughout the work originates from the artists’ invented brand Bosedk Design, the name of a mock‑English‑language version of an insulting Punjabi term. Appearing across their practice from design and retail commissions to paintings, sculptures, wallpaper and installations, Thukral & Tagra use the Bosedk branding as a deliberate and ironic comment on this consumer culture and the commercialisation of the art world.

Kakan (Baskets) 2013–2016

Delissa Walker’s handwoven baskets highlight the importance of generational knowledge and cultural continuation by sharing the role weaving plays in the everyday lives of First Nations people. As Walker explains, ‘I think of my baskets as more than my hobby, but as passing on and teaching my culture just as my grandmother did for me. When I made the big basket, it was a bit emotional for me because it is the biggest piece made since my grandmother passed. I am the only one who makes them this big. So, if I don’t do it, a special part of my culture and grandmother would be lost. The direction I take with my weaving is to simply teach and inspire anyone who wants to learn and, of course, my children’.

Crepe copper lei 2017

Rosie Ware is a textile designer and printer based on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. Her work is inspired by her culture, the maritime history of the Torres Strait and the beautiful islands and marine environment that surrounds her. Crepe copper lei uses sheet copper to re‑imagine the crepe‑paper lei Ware recalls her mother making for festive occasions. The folded and articulated copper sheet is threaded on steel cable, along with periwinkle and cowrie shells collected by the artist from the Torres Strait. Ware has finished the lei with white enamel, painting highlights along the copper folds.

Coloured vases 2015

For this work Ai Weiwei collected Chinese Neolithic vases that are thousands of years old and dipped each pot into industrial paint. Through this action, of ‘corrupting’ part of China’s cultural heritage with an industrial layer from today, he shows how the past and present are linked and asks us to question what makes something culturally valuable and what we consider to be real or authentic. Like history itself, what is underneath the paint is, as the artist says, ‘no longer visible, but is still there’. Ai uses art to address some of the most urgent global issues of the twenty-first century, such as the relationship between tradition and modernity (how old and new customs and ways of living come together and the tensions or difficulties that can arise from this), human rights and the value of freedom of expression.

How can a painted vase be an object of activism?

Original gravity stool 2011 designed, 2016 manufactured

Dutch designer Jólan van der Wiel invents tools and experimental processes that allow him to create new and unorthodox forms. Van der Wiel’s design work covers furniture, fashion, sculpture, installation and architecture. Original gravity stool is made with a mixture of coloured polyurethane and iron powder. This material is poured into van der Wiel’s custom gravity tool, a unique invention installed with two large magnets that influence the metal powder in the polyurethane through gravitational force. As the magnets are drawn apart, the stool rises from the mixture. The shape is determined by the natural force of magnetism, so no two stools are the same.

Puli murpu – Mountain range 2010

This is a significant work painted by Ruby Tjangawa Williamson and her daughter Nita, representing the Musgrave Ranges behind Amata, South Australia. The concentric circles in the centre of the work are kapi tjukula (rock holes) where water collects after rains and the patterned background draws on specific body designs for inma (ceremony). The artists have also depicted ultukunpa, or honey grevillea flower, a favourite sweet bush food of Anangu people. This important story is usually reserved for men, but as Ruby Tjangawa was born in this very sacred place, she was given cultural permission to share this story.

Black ku 2016

Ku is the Wik‑Mungkan language name for the ‘camp dogs’ of Aurukun in Queensland. Drawing on their wood‑carving skills, historically used for ceremonial purposes, these artists have sculpted a suite of Ku. Each dog in the collection has its own personality and quirky expression and together they create a formidable pack. In Aboriginal communities across the country, cheeky dogs are respected creatures and often seen wandering the streets, stealing scraps and resting in the shade.

Gapu ga Gitkit (Water and birds) 2005

Artists across Arnhem Land make Larrakitj and Lorrkon, or hollow pole coffins, from stringybark trees, hollowed out by termites. Originally mourning objects, Larrakitj and Lorrkon have now become a major contemporary art form that reveals miny’tji (designs) and rarrk (cross-hatching) specific to individual artists. Through the continuation of customary cultural practices and processes of making, both female and male artists in East and West Arnhem Land assert their sovereignty through their lived relationship with the land, and each other, and remain connected to their ancestors. These Larrakitj from from Yirrkala draw on specific clan designs to share the story of the wet season.