Community + Family

Sandra Hill, Minang/Wardandi/Ballardong/Nyoongar peoples, with her work Double Standards, 2015, purchased 2016 with the support of Warwick Hemsley and The Hon. Melissa Parke to mark Mr Hemsley's tenure on Council and in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum.
‘Community + Family features works that convey artists’ family and Community connections and give a voice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people past and present. Art that responds to traumatic and life-changing experiences is often a form of healing as part of truth telling.’
Stories of First Nations cultures are often centred in Community and family. Taking care of Country, ceremony, and language is an intergenerational responsibility that requires the passing down of knowledge within Community. Since time immemorial, First Nations people have drawn strength and inspiration from the Community. For artists, their practice also provides the opportunity to express the damaging treatment of their families and the resilience of their community.
Berceuse
Christian Thompson, Bidjara people, Berceuse, 2017
‘It's a simple aesthetic gesture but it has a very profound statement because our language is considered endangered/extinct. … If I'm singing even one word of my language, you can't say it isn't living any more.’
Christian Thompson, Bidjara people, is a multidisciplinary artist who uses mediums such as photography, sculpture, performance, video and sound to explore themes of identity, cultural history, memory, sexuality and gender.
Berceuse, 2017, is a three-channel video and audio installation. As an immersive expression of language and culture, the work features Christian singing a lullaby in Bidjara language. The three channels shift between monochrome and colour, as Christian’s vocals surround the viewer.
‘I want them [the audience] to experience the innate lyricism of language… [Berceuse] is not about understanding, or exploring, or de-compartmentalising or going 'this means that' and 'that means this' — it's just a purely visceral, immersive experience.’
By singing in his family’s language, Christian is reclaiming and reconnecting with the Bidjara language. He says, I feel a lot more free when I’m singing in my own language; it’s intertwined with who I am. Although Christian is featured as the sole subject of Berceuse, he would not describe it as a self-portrait. He is the armature that builds and elevates the messages and ideas of his practice.
Double Standards
‘Creating art helps me deal with my deep level of frustration over Australia’s seeming indifference toward its First Nation people and the unjust legacy we’ve been left with. Art gave me a voice, which made me strong, it helped to guide me back home, back to my family, my people and my community.’
Sandra Hill, Minang/Wardandi/Bollardong/Nyoongar peoples, draws on her identity and experience growing up as an Aboriginal person and a third-generation member of the Stolen Generation in Australia to create multidisciplinary works of art that focus on Aboriginal history in Australia.
Double Standards, 2015, is a large lightbox consisting of 216 smaller lightboxes created with Japanese rice paper and sealed in endemic Balga resin, deliberately done to reinforce Sandra’s identity and connection to Country.
To emulate the Australian flag Sandra has used mismatched red, white and blue lightboxes to create the Union Jack in the upper left corner and included lightboxes showing the Federation and Southern Cross stars. The remaining lightboxes have either been left blank or filled with archival and personal images. The images give insight into the daily lives of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people at various points in history and emphasise the disparities between the two experiences.
By using these images within the Australian Flag, Sandra is exposing the doubles standards she saw growing up in Australia.
‘My work is the voice that needs to be heard, by Australia, especially White Australia. They can’t be heard, all my Mob who have suffered, who were taken away, who have been incarcerated, who have been treated as flora and fauna. They don’t have a voice, they don’t have the abilities to scream and shout loud enough for the rest of the country to hear.’
Reflect
The conflicting perspectives of an event can sometimes go unnoticed or ignored. As individuals, with unique experiences and backgrounds, it is important to feel heard and seen by the communities we contribute to.
In your various communities, how could you create more space for conflicting perspectives, and foster greater understanding and appreciation of diverse experiences?