SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHS FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, QUEENSLAND

Deutscher and Hackett is pleased to offer a selection of contemporary photographic works from an Important Private Collection of Contemporary Indigenous Art, Brisbane. This selection highlights the different voices and concerns encompassed by the genre of contemporary Indigenous photography as revealed by the following images from Christian Thompson and Michael Riley.

For example in his Untitled, from the series Emotional Striptease (Self Portrait) 2003, Christian Thompson poses aggressively in front of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, wielding a hunting club as though taunting the museum. Similarly, his celebrated Gates of Tambo-Andy, 2004 challenges the right of indigenous artists to be accepted within the mainstream discourse on art-making by invoking the personalities of peers such as Rusty Peters and Tracey Moffatt, alongside international Pop art celebrity, Andy Warhol.

For Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Michael Riley meanwhile, religiosity is central to his psyche and aesthetic, with his works representing powerful critiques of the Church and its mistreatment of Australia’s indigenous people. Indeed, beneath the ostensible lyricism of his iconic Cloud Series 2000/2005 various portents hover – the floating cow suggests the imposition of European livestock on the land, but also evokes the biblical ‘Red Heifer’ brought as a sacrifice; the giant locust refers to the famous biblical plague; and the feather alludes to the wing of the eagle-hawk (Malyan), a scary evil spirit from the Dreamtime. 

 

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