Home Among the Gum Trees
Artwork by Gabrielle Alexander
The Artery Fitzroy
87-89 Moor St, Fitzroy
Opening September 21, 6pm
Exhibition September 20-October 2
Phone Zola on (03) 9415 9200 or email <info@theartery.com.au>
BY GABRIELLE ALEXANDER
I use graffiti, animal shapes and blank landscapes in my art to process the "mythologies" that have taken place over what I believe to be Australia's already problematic view of society and the land.
People in need are rejected entry, as our plentiful shores have become "borders". Consumerist desires compel us to spend and earn. "Free" trade compromises human rights unchallenged. Industry impacts on our previously isolated ecosystem while allegiance to a US ally affects our national identity more than we could have ever imagined.
Mainstream images of "Australian battlers" struggling for dignity have become "Australian battlers" struggling to get cable. The term "un-Australian" is used daily but means "anti-American".
As entrenched colonialist ideals disappear from mainstream folk law, one form of racism has become another. The importance of salvaging a healthy relationship with Indigenous peoples or their land has been neglected amongst new hysteria of "Islamic danger" and "threats to democracy".
We "protect our borders", but trash what lies within them. The need to acknowledge the challenges posed to our indigenous environment to survive through, and adapt to our increased consumption, exists shyly next to a love of convenience and consumerism.
It is my hope that Australia changes for the better.
From Green Left Weekly, September 21, 2005.
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