Courting Blakness

A lack of knowledge of various religious and cultural beliefs can be argued to be a leading factor towards violence and discrimination. According to Foster (2014: 256), ignorance ‘is a primary source of and impetus of violence.’ Cross-cultural and cross-faith understanding is therefore crucial to modern society. This is especially relevant when considering the history of violent and discriminatory acts directed at Indigenous Australians. Henceforth, doing something towards building peace, acceptance and tolerance for Aboriginal people is of upmost importance. The Courting Blakness art exhibition does just this.

This month, the University of Queensland’s Great Court was filled with artworks for the Courting Blakness Recalibrating Knowledge in the Sandstone University public exhibition. Three visually astounding, abstractly challenging and thought stimulating artworks were placed at various points throughout the Great Court.

The chosen location for this public exhibition was significant in itself. The selected university environment represents a particular history. The Great Court describes a meeting place of different academic disciplines, artists and thinkers throughout the ages. The carvings on the sandstone buildings describe this specific history of intellectuals. So, this exhibition invites the academic university community, and therefore the future people, thinkers and leaders of the world, to reflect on relevant history and engage with the Great Court through new conversations about issues that matter to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

In an increasingly digital age, by getting students to stop and think, art in the unique space of a university campus can act as social activism. This aforementioned exhibition takes advantage of a potential university space to interact with issues to do with Aboriginality in contemporary society. Courting Blakness approaches the university sphere to address Indigenous discrimination and difference. It confronts ideas about humanity through the space of public art.

This exhibition does not specifically aim to teach the audience anything in particular, but rather gets people to think and feel. This is especially the case with Debt by Ryan Presley. This particular piece presents a range of revised Australian bank notes on the face of large-scale text. It readdresses the visual iconography of colonial Australia by substituting Indigenous leaders as the notes’ character theme. This gets the audience thinking about racial difference and the violence that has been directed at Indigenous Australians throughout history. It can be interpreted as a reflection or a mirror of today’s society. The images of important, yet somewhat forgotten, Indigenous Australians take over white Australia’s dollar bills just like the Europeans took over and colonised Australia. It reinstates and causes reflection on the rightful and true owners of the land. It reminds viewers of the ongoing devastation and pain that colonialism brought to Aboriginal people.

By bringing this exhibition into the Great Court, it consequently reinterprets the space and reshapes the way people think about Australian identity. It inspires students to think about their contemporary society in conjunction with Aboriginal politics. By changing this intellectual space, it encourages persons to think about an idea they may not have thought about before. It thus presses the current population of the university to enter into a new dialogue. It therefore actively creates awareness of Indigeneity in a modern Australia, removing any chance of ignorance.

Reference

Foster, C. (2014). Learning Violence and Unviolence in Religious Education. Religious Education: The official journal of the Religious Education Association 109 (3), 251-257.