For Tracing inscriptions 2020/22, a intent-developed plotter printer is programmed by Robert Andrew to trace an undisclosed Yawuru text in Latin script, activating strings stretching about viewers’ heads that hook up
to the branches and rocks opposite. Without having ink, the traced letters and words and phrases are still left invisible and undisclosed to the viewer. The artist seeks to upend the perceived hierarchy in between composed and oral languages – in this situation, English and Australian Indigenous languages.
About the program of the exhibition, swinging burnt branches and ochre-protected rocks — suspended by strings controlled by the plotter — little by little develop up noticeable residue on the wall. The charcoal and ochre proficiently write Country on to the partitions, reminding viewers that they stand on Indigenous land. This undermines the trope that a gallery’s white walls develop a house in which artworks can be considered devoid of external reference factors.
The 100 strings divide the central wall into one particular-metre squares resembling an environmental study prepare. The branches and rocks probe and subvert the grid’s limitations by rubbing, jumping and crumbling over the demarcations – a reminder that character simply cannot constantly be contained by human aspirations.
Robert Andrew ‘Tracing inscriptions’
‘Embodied Know-how: Queensland Modern day Art’ is in Queensland Artwork Gallery’s Gallery 4, Gallery 5 (Henry and Amanda Bartlett Gallery) and the Watermall from 13 August 2022 to 22 January 2023.
Acknowledgment of Region
The Queensland Artwork Gallery | Gallery of Modern Artwork acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Gallery stands in Brisbane. We spend regard to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders earlier and existing and, in the spirit of reconciliation, admit the immense resourceful contribution Initial Australians make to the artwork and culture of this state.
It is customary in quite a few Indigenous communities not to point out the identify or reproduce images of the deceased. All these mentions and images on the QAGOMA Blog are with permission, even so, treatment and discretion ought to be exercised.
Reconciliation Motion Strategy
QAGOMA has launched its inaugural Reconciliation Motion Program (RAP) to information its contributions to reconciliation. Check out the 2022–24 RAP.
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