Module 3 Weblog #3 (A. Davidson)

Julie Gough – Tasmanian Aboriginal visual artist

& Julie Gough’s Website

Description & Relevancy

These sites highlight the artistic pursuits of Julie Gough and the themes that she explores through her artwork. There are links to her various works of art, writing, and reviews. When considering the focus in this module on the impact of outside researchers on indigenous communities I was deeply interested in the following piece and description….

The Whispering Sands (Ebb Tide), 1998
mixed media, dimensions variable
photograph courtesy the artist

The Whispering Sands (Ebb Tide) installation comprises sixteen lifesize portraits pyrographically (hand-burnt) onto 5 mm plywood. These figures were placed in the tidal flats at Eaglehawk Neck, Southern Tasmania during November 1998 in the ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ Exhibition. The portraits represent British individuals, collectors, who historically and subsequently impacted on Tasmanian Aboriginal people through their accumulation of material culture, stories, anthropological/medical information, human remains, and even Aboriginal children in the names of science, education, history, anthropology and the increase of their own personal status and power.

Links

http://www.anu.edu.au/culture/abstractions/artists/jg_1.htm

Julie Gough’s Website