Badimaya/Yamatji painter, Julie Dowling is an internationally acclaimed artist and activist who creates iconic pictorial critiques of contemporary and historical Australian narratives.
This exhibition is her take on the theme of slavery in Australia for Aboriginal people both in past centuries and current Australian society. From diving for pearls to back-breaking farm labour, minding the children of their colonial masters to present-day work for government benefits, Aboriginal people were denied wages stolen by corrupt officials and employers, leaving generations of families locked in a cycle of poverty that still exists today.
In this exhibition, Dowling forces us to literally come face-to-face with the past. Through the stories of her own family, and those of other Aboriginal people, Dowling re-presents the violence and power imbalance in settler-colonial and contemporary Western Australia. Her subjects gaze directly at the viewer, challenging them to acknowledge Australia’s colonial history and protest the ongoing injustices experienced by Aboriginal people.
Opening Event: 10 February 2022
Exhibition: 11 February – 20 March 2022
Supported By: Perth Festival Visual Arts Program supported by Wesfarmers Arts. BHP, JCG Founders Club and Donor Circle, Yamaji Art, University Art Museums Australia, CurtinFM.
Header Image: Julie Dowling, Tuppence (my grandmother), 2005, Acrylic, red ochre and plastic on canvas, 80 x 49.8cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
