Culture Clash

**Due to strict rules against taking pictures of Indigenous Australian artwork, I posted a link below to Gordon Bennett's painting Possession Island. 

http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/gordonbennett/education/images/EXHI004485_600.jpg

When I first came across Gordon Bennett’s painting Possession Island (1991) at the Museum of Sydney, I was immediately drawn to it. Right away, my eyes were set on the figure in the middle, the young Indigenous man. Unlike the rest of the figures in the painting, he was not marked by the drip painting style made famous by Pollock. During the tour that we had with Ivan, I asked him if there were any reservations for the indigenous people of Australia, similarly to the Native Americans back home in the United States. His answer somewhat surprised me in the fact that there is an ongoing legal issue between Indigenous Australians and Australians over the land. Unlike the Native Americans, there were no treaties that was signed handing over the land to the new settlers from England. The settlers, although they saw the Indigenous people who were inhabiting the land, decided to call this land “terra nullius,” meaning it to be unowned. This allowed them to inhabit the land and build their own government and laws that now rule over what is known to us today as Australia. Indigenous Australians continue to fight for possession, occupation and use of the land through the Court system using the Native Title Act. It is a complicated system that is managed through the Federal Court of Australia and the National Native Title Tribunal. Through this act, Indigenous people can apply to regain land through a vigorous screening and registration through the Tribunal. If it can be proven that there is a connection with the land and water through the custom and law of the ancestors of the land, then they will be granted native title to this land. This is a continuous battle that they have to fight to this day which makes it a very complicated subject to talk about in regards to land ownership.

Original engraving by Samuel Cook which Gordon Bennett based his painting on.

In GB’s painting, we see the discovery of Australia reimagined. This painting is a remake of Samuel Cook’s engraving Possession of the Australian Continent, on behalf of the British Crown, AD 1770. The seemingly important figures that are shown in the original by Samuel Calvert are faded out and no longer in focus. In the original artwork, the Indigenous man is seen wearing a yellow coat, which is a color that blends in easily with the natural scenery. In GB’s painting, the coat is now red which is meant for him to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Trailing behind the young man are footsteps, which to me, is meant to be symbolic for his ancestors. In SC’s engraving, these new men have landed and are claiming to have now “discovered” new land, making their mark on what they call new ground. However, the footsteps are there to remind us that they are not the first to inhabit or find this land, but there are natives to the land that have deep embedded roots so much so that those footsteps could be fossilized in the ground. I like how GB kept the young man with shoes on his feet instead of being bare, indicating that these footsteps go further than just this one Indigenous man who is serving these men, rather, it encompasses generations before him.

The grid is interesting to note because it is added into the painting and is only behind the young man. I saw this as having a dual purpose and a way to further push the scene as he did with the footsteps, which is that the Indigenous people made their mark first. A grid usually has a focal point which we can see is the young man. But, a grid is also used to create structures and organize certain material. The fact that the Indigenous man is within the grid is also disturbing as it could be representative of the settler’s plan of what they want to do with Indigenous Australians. Lastly, the painting has been splattered with colors of red, yellow and black, which is representative of the colors from the Aboriginal flag. The land that the settlers end up taking leaves a mark on the people, but GB decides to focus on the more important aspect of this historic moment. Even though the settlers took land away from the Indigenous people, they have an inherent tie to this land that will never be wiped away.

GB took a piece of artwork that was viewed to represent a historical and proud moment in Australia’s history and has retrieved truth out of it in a remarkable way. The fact that he used a copy of SC’s engraving instead of creating a brand new painting goes a lot further because it is as if he is lifting the veil to reveal something new for the first time. This painting exemplifies how Australian culture is not limited to what we would initially imagine when we think of Australia. It shows the contrast with Indigenous culture and challenges us to broaden our views in terms of Australian culture.