The Haunted and the Bad

4 July - 10 August 2008

Tony ALBERT
Launched
2008
acrylic on paper

My most recent bodies of works have been about freedom and liberation. Liberation of objects, people and false idols representing quasi identities created by the dominant culture to categorise Aboriginal people. In re-contextualising and re-using these idols - velvet paintings, plaster heads, copper plaques and vintage prints - I have amassed a collection of their physical shackles or prisons. The backing boards, frames and other items these objects were trapped in also need to be freed from themselves. I have chosen to use these as the support for this series. This also furthers my 'austrALIEN' thematic through incorporating materials used in the romanticisation of Aboriginal people, making us into the 'other' or aliens within our own lands. So here, I am not only making a comment on the position of Aboriginal people within an alien society constructed on their own lands, but I am also totally re-contextualising - owning - the physical and mental constraints forced upon Aboriginal people.