 Beginnings The Land Cities & Suburbs Boom & Bust Patriotic Duty At Ease Encounters |
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Theme: Encounters
Artist: Robert CAMPBELL (JNR) Birth/Death: 1944–1993 Title: Aboriginal embassy Credit Line: Purchased 1987 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Robert Campbell Jnr commemorates the establishment in 1972 of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, erected on the grounds of Parliament House in Canberra to draw public attention to the dispossession of indigenous Australians and the denial of their sovereign rights to land. The Tent Embassy made the point that Aboriginal people continued to be treated as foreigners in their own country. The Embassy assisted in the changes to official policy regarding the issue of Aboriginal land rights. The present Tent Embassy was erected in 1992 on the same site in front of Old Parliament House. The sequential narrative in the painting is characteristic of Campbell’s work. The red tie-like oesophagus shape symbolises the spirit in all living beings. The top section of the painting depicts the protagonists and their supporters and below they are shown being arrested. The picture surface is animated by rich decoration similar to the fine engravings on Aboriginal shields, clubs and boomerangs of south-eastern Australia. More details Click image to enlarge |