Protectors camp
2017
- Medium
- digital print
- Measurements
- 45.0 × 80.0 cm
- Edition
- ed. 2/5
- Accession Number
- 2019.240
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2019 - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
Protectors camp depicts Australian naturalist and explorer Archibald Meston, settling in a bush camp with his gun clearly visible leaning over his shoulder to exercise control, while three Aboriginal people tend to the campsite. Fiona Foley describes this scene as ‘permeated by wafts of arrogance – as pervasive as smoke from the campfire’. Through Foley’s research, Meston has been exposed as a contested historical figure who prior to serving as ‘Protector of Aborigines’ is believed to have been responsible for the murder of several Aboriginal people.