2023-11-14 17:43:00
In Victoria’s wild northwest, the land is flat as a pancake. Large-scale wheat cultivation characterizes the area here. Every now and then a few gum trees grow, in whose shadow lonely farmhouses with their corrugated iron roofs crouch.
Only in some places do grain silos, visible for miles, rise up like church towers elsewhere. They stand next to a railway line, but they have long since lost their original function and are threatened with decay.
Art instead of grain
Several of these buildings from the 1930s have become artists’ canvases. What began as a small project in the town of Brim with portraits of local farmers in 2016 has become a project in recent years Silo Art Trail, a unique open-air gallery with the works of international artists.
There are now numerous painted silos along the 200 kilometer route between the towns of Rupanyup in the south and Patchewollock in the north. The most impressive are the four faces of Melbourne artist Adnate in Sheep Hills. These four portraits signal that there is a past for the indigenous population here.
“My skin is white, but my heart is black,” said Ron Marks, who promoted the art project and was the godfather of the image on the left. His Aboriginal ancestors from the Wergaia tribe have been cultivating the land for thousands of years, he tells us in an interview stern. The oversized artwork, featuring the starry sky and his relatives Regina and his two cousins Savannah and Curtly, “opens visitors’ eyes to the fact that Aboriginal culture is alive.”
From rock art to street art
Change of location to the metropolis of Melbourne. The Aboriginal art business is booming in the galleries, although dot paintings are rather atypical for Aboriginal artists in Victoria. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the process of using surfaces other than stone began, using paper and canvas as a base.
Once dismissed as indigenous folk art or craft, the works are now exhibited at the Ian Potter Centre, a new building at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne’s Federation Square. “Marking Time” is the name of the exhibition, which deals with the latest trends in contemporary art. At the forefront: the works of indigenous artists.
“We have 56,000 years of art history in this country,” says Myles Russell-Cook, the curator of the NGV’s Indigenous Art Gallery, “and in the present the development continues.” In addition to classic works that deal with the story of creation and the strong identification of Aborigines with their country, the collection also includes works with moving images in video clips, neon sculptures and pop art.
Of note are two smaller paintings by HJ Wedge, his depiction of a nun and a missionary. The artist, who died in 2012, depicted the confrontation of the Wiradjuri people with the Australian government’s forced Christianization and assimilation policy: He visualized the painful experiences over generations that were associated with forced relocation and alienation. The title of his work: “Immaculate conception – What hypocrisy”, translated as “Immaculate conception – what a hypocrisy”.
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