Battleground (Always was never will be)
2020
- Medium
- rusted steel, deep-etch primer, sealant, enamel paint
- Measurements
- 120.6 × 39.8 × 3.1 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Sydney, New South Wales
- Accession Number
- 2020.634
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2020
© Jason Wing, licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia / Photo: Zan Wimberley - Gallery location
- Gallery 9
Level 2, NGV Australia - About this work
-
Jason Wing’s work explores issues of bi-cultural and Indigenous political identity. The bullet hole is a reference to the infamous Gweagal shield held in the British Museum, which was shot during the first encounter of Captain Cook at Botany Bay in 1770. Wing draws attention to the unequal power dynamics between Aboriginal people and early European settlers, by connecting the imagery of the Gweagal shield to slogans synonymous with the current Black Lives Matter and Aboriginal Deaths in Custody movements.