Tomorrow … The Future
Opening conversation: Saturday 9 September at 2pm
9 September to 14 October 2023
Artists: JONATHON WORLD PEACE BUSH, BLAK DOUGLAS, IWANTJA YOUNG WOMEN’S FILM PROJECT + IWANTJA MULTIMEDIA PROJECT (INDULKANA), NARELLE JUBELIN + FIONA MACDONALD, FIONA KATAUSKAS, PIA LARSEN, CHIPS MACKINOLTY, KAREN ROGERS, TJUNKAYA TAPAYA, CATHY WILCOX, 2023 BARUNGA VOICE DECLARATION AND SYDNEY TRADES HALL COLLECTION
Conversations: 2pm at The Cross Art Projects. Learn more about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament with a special guest (artist or writer) and local facilitator to support the discussion. It’s free.
Saturday 2 September: from Yes23, Chloe Wighton, Wiradjuri (Galari), archaeologist and Senior Cultural Impact Advisor at Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) with Linda Jaivin, author and activist.
Saturday 9 September: artists and cartoonists Fiona Katauskas and Cathy Wilcox with Linda Jaivin, author and activist.
Saturday 23 September, 2pm: Jackie Huggins writer and historian with Linda Jaivin, author and activist.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart extends a generous and powerful invitation to all Australians. We meet this invitation in the same spirit of generosity. Vote “yes” at the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum on Saturday 14 October 2023.
About the exhibition, Tomorrow… The Future
Tomorrow … The Future is an exhibition by artists “coming from all points of the southern Sky”, as eloquently phrased in the poetry of the Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017). The works by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists capture the Zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, and embrace a constellation of meanings on the coming Referendum on a First Nations Voice to Australian Parliament.
The Uluru Statement followed 13 regional dialogues around the country and a final convention (250 delegates) at Uluru in Australia’s centre. The Uluru Statement proposes a panel of elected First Nations people to advise and speak on matters relating to them: a step-by-step process of Voice, Treaty, Truth. The question is simply: Should Aboriginal people be able to speak about things that are about them?’ Yes or No?’
The exhibition opens with the long march forward to the political moment: First Nations peoples have struggled since British colonial invasion for recognition and representation. Their rights have been taken and their children stolen. Their voices have not been heard. Broken or empty promises: words written in the dust and enforced by gunfire have filled the void.
Works by Karen Rogers from the remote community of Ngkurr on the Roper River in the Northern Territory, tell her uncle’s forgotten story. Dexter Daniels, a Numamurdirdi man also from Ngkurr (then Roper River mission), spoke on national and international stages. His language was of citizenship rights, equality and solidarity. The artist’s watercolour vignettes show a May Day parade in Bulgaria in 1968 and Dexter dramatically talking to builder’s labourers (BLF) at a Sydney construction site. The delicate works revive photographs printed on cheap newsprint sourced from clippings miraculously held in a private collection in the Newcastle University Archives.
Dexter Daniels (c. 1936–1999) worked on pastoral properties but could not own land. Daniels was an organiser for the North Australian Workers Union (which included Waterside Workers) and a member of key Indigenous civil rights organisations.[1] Newcastle unions through their Aboriginal Advancement Committee, supported the union’s work for justice. In 1966 Daniels and stockman Vincent Lingiari, a fellow organiser for the union, led the strike by 200 Gurindji workers and their families who walked-off Wave Hill station, the second largest station in the Territory and part the giant UK-based Vestey Brothers pastoral monopoly. The walk-off was a banner for Aboriginal demands for land and captured the public imagination.
A year after the walk-off, the successful ‘Vote Yes for Aborigines’ Referendum included Aboriginal people in the Australian census count for the first time and gave the Commonwealth constitutional responsibility for First Nations people. It was assumed the new race power would be benevolent. However Prime Minister John Howard used the “race power” to the detriment of First Nations peoples when the military initiated an ‘Northern Territory National Emergency Response’ and occupied remote communities waving the “emergency” banner on the eve of a Federal election. The Intervention increased police powers, abolished employment funding (a lifeline for many Indigenous-run art centres) and enabled a lease power, or land grab, in return for funding some 75 remote communities.
The Cross Art Projects has followed the Intervention’s broken promises in a series of exhibitions: Ghost Citizens: Witnessing the Intervention (2012) and, A Widening Gap: The Intervention, 10 Years On (2017), both held concurrently with two Sydney Biennales.[2] A witty witness simply wrote on a “proscribed community” sign, “if you want porn go to Canberra”. Kamberri/Canberra-based artist Brenda L. Croft captured the image and exhibited the photograph in A Widening Gap: The Intervention, 10 Years On, as a challenge to the flimsy rational behind the Howard government’s disastrous emergency response.
On the Intervention’s bitter 10th anniversary, Pat Turner an Arrente woman and then CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Heath Organisations, said “nothing has changed for the better” and the Intervention is “a complete violation of the human rights of Aboriginal people”. (ABC Radio, The Drum, 19 June 2017.) The current annual Closing the Gap analysis continues to fail with only three of 17 targets showing progress. Things are miserable and getting worse.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017) is a clear statement for inclusion to address a now overwhelming emergency in Indigenous health, education, housing and incarceration. In June 2023 more than 200 representatives of the four Northern Territory Aboriginal land councils (Northern, Central, Tiwi and Anindilyakwa) gathered at Barunga, south-east of Katherine, to sign the Barunga Voice Declaration to address all Australians urging them to support a Voice to Parliament, “by enshrining our voice to the parliament and executive government in the Constitution, never to be rendered silent with the stroke of a pen again”.
Who would refuse informed advice when over 80% of Indigenous people support the Voice? The artwork designer, Tina Tilhard, presents their solemn words framed by the artwork, a collaboration by senior Yolgnu, Anangu, Arrente and Warlpiri artists for the 1988 Barunga Statement[3]. Also designed by Tina Tilhard, courtesy of the Central Land Council, is the compelling poster of a young Aboriginal girl from Central Australia inviting us to back a voice to parliament and government in the Australian constitution.
These artists visualise a possible future for all. Pia Larsen’s print installation ‘The Complete Statement’, etches into the air the sublime words of the Uluru Statement (just 439 words), with alphabet cut-outs on the floor as a reminder of so many promises not kept. Here there is no hidden text or secret pages; no words spoken with a forked-tongue. The intense colours of the two suspended paper panels evoke the play of light on Uluru the giant sacred rock and and its surrounding desert land-forms. Her second work, an overlapping and fragmented collage titled ‘Yes Yes Yes’, riffs in agreement with significant events in the history of Indigenous activism. Both works face the parade of people in a busy inner-city lane.
Jonathan (World Peace) Bush’s euphoric poem-curtain ‘Tiwi Treaty’ is a brilliantly coloured celebration that it’s hard not to sing along to, “Today is the day, today is our brand new day”. As always in Tiwi art and culture, it incorporates jilamara or body paint design and dance moves. No formal treaty exists with First Nations peoples providing a constitutional and moral basis of alliance. What is the Tiwi word for yes?
Dramatic paintings by Tjunkaya Tapaya chair of Ernabella Arts, our oldest Indigenous-run art centre (celebrating its 75th year), lay out the deep past of the Kungkarangkalpa or Seven Sisters tjukurpa (Dreaming). This major songline runs across the country uniting many diverse languages, passing over the Central Desert and Uluru. In the northern hemisphere the immortal sisters live on as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters pattern of stars, their English name derived from Greek legend as the daughters of the ocean nymph Pleione.
Tjunkaya Tapaya writes: “I hold strongly the important Kungkarangkalpa or Seven Sisters tjukurpa. This is one of the main stories I lay down on my canvas. The Seven Sisters had come from the north, and they had come right through our country at Witapula (my birth-place.) This is a big important Tjukurpa and cultural heritage for our country, which we want all our young people to know and understand and to keep looking after it strongly”.[4]
Artists and writers have always played a critical role as information mediators and equalisers. Enjoy Blak Douglas’s brilliant painting for the cover for the Finding Our Heart: the story about the Uluru Statement for Young Australians (by Thomas Mayo, 2022) and Cathy Wilcox’s whip-sharp series of drawings for the Voice to Parliament Handbook (by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien, 2023), and reflect on the vibrant connections between politics and illustration. For a reminder that artists are not always “nice”, see Fiona Katauskas’ satirical watercolours presenting the ‘Right Side of History’ and ‘The Far Right Side of History’. Her pithy reply to the no campaign’s ‘If you don’t know, vote no’, is the stern reply ‘If you don’t know, find out. It’s not that hard!’
Humour is continued in animated videos ‘Kungka Kunpu’ (2019) by Iwantja Young Women’s Film Project and ‘Just Another Day in Indulkana’ by Iwantja Multimedia Project (young men) joyfully showing life in a remote desert community (300km south of Mparntwe/Alice Springs) by acting out the surrealism of ‘both ways’: traditional Anangu activities accompanied by a floating chorus of cartoon figures, a soundtrack of classic pop and country music and sensational dance moves. What’s not to love?
The exhibition title Tomorrow … The Future draws upon an old Spanish Civil War slogan which included the word “perhaps”. The brutality of the Spanish Civil War shows how division can be stirred by unscrupulous agents. News Corp’s Fox News, Opposition opportunists, social media bots and billionaire miners and multitudes of lobbyists have high stakes in a status quo that is blatantly unfair. They disseminate crazy myths about the Voice, from backyards being stolen, opening the door to activists, to Traditional Owner sovereignty being ceded. Just look to the ‘no case’ in the official referendum “information sheet” which was published by the A.E.C. without fact checking and no eye to the truth.
Let’s leave with a resounding question from feminist propagandists Narelle Jubelin and Fiona MacDonald, who call into service the humble linen t-towel, screen-printed in deep-maroon uppercase, ‘… IF NOT NOW … WHEN?’ The town of Kandos in mid-western NSW has spoken.
This exhibition is about listening and ways of seeing the future with hopes for a fair and truthful relationship. The artists’ imagination and thinking sets out a new national compact that acknowledges Indigenous struggle and survival. The call has been made. Hear the Voice again, “In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard.”
Notes
- Dexter Daniels was a member of the Roper River Citizens’ Council and president of NT Aboriginal Rights Council (NTCAR). In 1968 he was elected as the first Aboriginal executive member of the Darwin ALP branch.
- 1988 Barunga Statement artwork created by: Yunupingu AM, 1948-2023, Gumatj; M Marawili, c.1937-2018, Madarrpa; B Marawili, 1944-2002, Madarrpa;; D Marawili AM, 1953, Madarrpa; D Ngurruwuthun, 1936-2001, Munyuku; D Ngurruwuthun, c. 1940-2001, Munyuku; W Rubuntja AM, c. 1926-2005, Arrernte; L Turner Jampijinpa, 1951-2009, Warlpiri; D Williams Japanangka, 1948-2013, Warlpiri.
- Exhibitions on the Intervention curated by Jo Holder and Djon Mundine: Ghost Citizens: Witnessing the Intervention (2012). Venues: The Cross Art Projects, Project Contemporary Artspace, Wollongong, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne and NCCA, Darwin. Exhibition catalogue Counihan Gallery. At https://www.crossart.com.au/exhibition-archive/ghost-citizens-witnessing-the-intervention-curators-djon-mundine-and-jo-holder-21-june-to-21-july-2012/ and https://www.crossart.com.au/exhibition-archive/a-widening-gap-the-intervention-10-years-on-8-july-to-5-august-2017/
- Tjunkaya Tapaya, ‘Our Art Centre, Our history’, Ernabella Arts (full essay) and Tjunkaya Tapaya interview, ‘Kungkarangkalpa: Seven Sisters, a story for our sisters’, Tarnanthi, exhibition catalogue Art Gallery of South Australia, 2017.
Tomorrow…The Future, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Installation view. Window: Pia Larsen, Yes Yes Yes, 2023, print and collage on paper, 143 x 160 cm. Photo: Silversalt
Pia Larsen, Yes Yes Yes, 2023, print and collage on paper, 143 x 160 cm. Photo: Silversalt.
Pia Larsen, The Complete Statement, 2023, printmedia on paper and text apertures 70.5 x 99.2 cm, variable edition 1/2. Photo: Silversalt.
Pia Larsen, Walk in Two Worlds, 2023, printmedia on paper and text apertures, 70.5 x 95 cm, variable edition 1/3. Photo: Silversalt.
Pia Larsen, Walk in Two Worlds, 2023, printmedia on paper and text apertures, 70.5 x 95 cm, variable edition 1/3 (detail). Photo: Silversalt.
Tomorrow…The Future, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Installation view. Window: Pia Larsen, The Complete Statement (L) and Walk in Two Worlds (R). Photo: Silversalt.
Pia Larsen, Walk in Two Worlds, 2023, printmedia on paper and text apertures, 70.5 x 95 cm, variable edition 1/3 (detail). Photo: Silversalt.
(Still from) Iwantja Young Women’s Film Project, Kungka Kunpu, 2019, single channel digital video with sound, 4 minutes, 6 seconds. Produced by Iwantja Arts with videography, animation and editing by Jackson Lee. Music by Jason Cullinan.
(Still from) Iwantja Young Women’s Film Project, Kungka Kunpu, 2019, single channel digital video with sound, 4 minutes, 6 seconds. Produced by Iwantja Arts with videography, animation and editing by Jackson Lee. Music by Jason Cullinan.
(Still from) Iwantja Multimedia Project, Just Another Day in Indulkana, 2021, single channel, digital video with sound, 5 mins 38 seconds).
(Still from) Iwantja Multimedia Project, Just Another Day in Indulkana, 2021, single channel, digital video with sound, 5 mins 38 seconds).
(L) Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa or Seven Sisters, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 179 x 100 cm (# 326-23). (R) Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa or Seven Sisters, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 120 cm (# 337-23)
Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa or Seven Sisters, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 179 x 100 cm (# 326-23).
Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa or Seven Sisters, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 120 cm (# 337-23)
(L): Tjunkaya Tapaya, Kungkarangkalpa or Seven Sisters, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 120 cm (# 337-23). (R) Cathy Wilcox, Cathy Wilcox, illustrations for the Voice to Parliament Handbook (written by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien, 2023, digital print on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm (each). Photo: Silversalt.
Cathy Wilcox, illustration for the Voice to Parliament Handbook (written by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien, 2023, digital print on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm.
Cathy Wilcox, illustration for the Voice to Parliament Handbook (written by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien, 2023, digital print on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm.
Fiona Katauskas, If You Don’t Know Find Out, 2023, watercolour on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm
Fiona Katauskas, Right Side of History, 2023, watercolour on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm
Blak Douglas, Finding Our Heart (Cover Image), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 40.5 x 51 cm. Photo: Silversalt.
Sydney Trade’s Hall Collection: Pamphlets/booklets on the Spanish Civil War including “Spain! The Spanish People Resent their Case.” Australian Nurses’ Response. With special article by Nettie Palmer. Published by Spanish Relief Committee, Melbourne + Chips Mackinolty, Yes, 2023. Photo: Silversalt.
Tomorrow…The Future, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Installation view. (L) 2023 Barunga Voice Declaration, Northern and Central Land Councils, Designed by Tina Tilhard, Central Land Council. The declaration pays homage to the original Barunga Statement design and honours the cultural leaders who created it in 1988. (M) Narelle Jubelin, Fiona MacDonald, YES, 2023, hand cut paper stencil screen print on linen tea towel, 70 x 50 cm. Edition of 10 + 2 Artist proofs. Production: Fiona MacDonald. (R) Johnathon World Peace Bush, Tiwi Treaty, designed 2018, printed 2023, one stencil screen print on linen, 6 metres. Photo: Silversalt.
Narelle Jubelin, Fiona MacDonald, YES, 2023, hand cut paper stencil screen print on linen tea towel, 70 x 50 cm. Edition of 10 + 2 Artist proofs. Production: Fiona MacDonald. Photo: Silversalt.
Johnathon World Peace Bush, Tiwi Treaty, designed 2018, printed 2023, one stencil screen print on linen, 6 metres. Translation from Tiwi text: Today is the day, today is our brand new day / Get up and stand for treaty now / I am the world peace. / I fight for treaty for all of us. / Treaty for you, treaty for me, treaty for everyone in the world, / Yes, this one world. Photo: Silversalt.
(L) Johnathon World Peace Bush, Tiwi Treaty, designed 2018, printed 2023, one stencil screen print on linen, 6 metres. Photo: Silversalt. (R) Karen Rogers, selected works. Photo: Silversalt.
Karen Rogers, This is our country: May Day, Darwin, 1965, 2023, acrylic on linen, 50 x 99.5 cm (#91-23). From: Dexter Daniels Project, Source Copley Collection, University of Newcastle Archives. Image source: “Frank Hardy provides a first-hand account of the campaign now being waged by Northern Territory Aborigines for full social equality”, Tribune, 7 September 1966. Photo: Silversalt.
(L) Karen Rogers, Women Marching, May Day Darwin, 1965, 2023, watercolour on paper, 20.5 x 29 cm. (Top Right) Karen Rogers, Dexter Daniels talks to BLF workers, Sydney, 2023, watercolour on paper, 23 x 27 cm. (Bottom Left) Karen Rogers, May Day, Bulgaria, 2023, watercolour on paper, 52 x 38 cm. Photo: Silversalt.
Tomorrow…The Future, The Cross Art Projects, 2023. Installation view. Photo: Silversalt.
Indigenous Art Centres: Ernabella Arts (Rowena Withers); Jilamara Arts (Hannah Raisin and Will Heathcote); Iwantja Arts (Heath Aarons); Ngkurr Arts (Karen Rodgers and Holly Shuttleworth). Collaborators: Kandos Museum (Fiona MacDonald); Sydney Trades Hall Collection (Neale Towart); Central Land Council (Elke Wiesmann and Tina Tilhard) and Northern Land Council (Aengus Cassidy). Colleagues: Marie Falcinella, Catriona Moore and Jasmin Stephens. Special thanks: Brenda L. Croft and Rachel Perkins. The Cross Art Projects: Belle Blau, Simon Blau, Suzi Gilligan and Phillip Boulten. Yes23 (Sydney for Yes and Wentworth for Yes) Campaign volunteers.
Links
The Yes Campaign – Yes23 – https://www.yes23.com.au/
The Voice and human rights from the Australian Human Rights Commission
The Uluru Statement from the Heart at: ulurustatement.org
An Indigenous Voice to Parliament through the Interactive Digital Learning Platform at ulurustatement.org
The 2012 report: Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution
Together Yes – For more information about Together Yes or to register as a small group discussion host go to https://togetheryes.com.au/
Towards Truth – https://towardstruth.org.au/