Melbourne-based interdisciplinary artist Steaphan Paton grew up in Gippsland, Victoria, and is a descendant of the Gunai and Monaro-Ngarigo peoples. Cloaked combat is an installation of five Aboriginal bark shields, which explores the material and technological conflicts between cultures and how these differences enable one culture to assert dominance over another. The rupture of the shields’ diamond designs with psychedelic arrows – a violation of Gunai nationhood and culture – highlights the brutality of European colonisation of Australia.
