Page 65 - Tropic Magazine Issue 36

TROPIC • CAIRNS ART GALLERY

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Both exhibitions address
the notion of identity,
Indigenous culture and
honouring the past while
looking to the future
Andrea Churcher
Director
Cairns Art Gallery

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MOVING TRIBUTE
Opening on the same night at FACELESS and in light of CIAF 2022 is another
compelling exhibition: A Story of My People by Dylan Mooney. The Yuwi man from
Mackay, who has cultural connections to Darnley Island in the Torres Strait and the
South Sea Islands, is presenting three separate bodies of work at Cairns Art Gallery. ARTISTS & CURATORS TALK
Together, they present a personal and moving tribute to the heroism of Australian FACELESS & DYLAN MOONEY
Indigenous and South Sea Islander peoples whose lives, cultures and identity were Cairns Art Gallery
stripped from them or inexorably changed as a result of colonisation. Friday 8 July, 11.30am – 12.30pm
Several new works were commissioned by the Gallery for the exhibition, including a Free event
large wall installation of portraits of Aboriginal people who were forcibly moved off
their country in the Mackay region. 1. Naomi Hobson, River Mermaid, courtesy of the
artist and Redot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.
“Dylan’s solo exhibition A Story of My People is a body of work encompassing a range 2. Names Leuba, Power ZuluKids SouthAfrica, from
of media which is both personal in nature yet indicative of a larger, shared experience the Zulu Kids series, 2014, digital print, courtesy of
of many Indigenous people displaced from their home,” Ms Churcher said. the artist.
3. Dr Christian Thompson AO, We’re the future,
“The four-metre-long, charcoal drawing is a powerful portrait with an almost We’re the Past, 2022, C-type print, courtesy of the
photographic quality which addresses the dispossession of Indigenous people from artist and Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin.
lands across the Mackay region.” 4. Dylan Mooney, Still Here and Thriving, 2022,
digital print, courtesy of the artist and N.Smith
Next to monotone illustrations, Mooney has created a series of backlit digital images Gallery, Sydney.
overlaid with sharply articulated and brightly coloured words. The outcome is a visual
that engages the audience in a dialogue, placing them squarely in front of the artist’s FACELESS is a Cairns Art
notions of identity. Together, these works burn with intensity as Mooney questions Gallery curated exhibition
“the resilience, innovation and empowerment” required of Aboriginal and South Sea
Islander people to not only survive but to thrive in Australia as it is today. MORE: cairnsartgallery.com.au
A Story of My People runs until 21 August.

65 • tropicnow.com.au