Richard Bell, Scratch an Aussie, 2008, still from HD video, courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane
Artspace presents Imagining Victory the second solo exhibition of Richard Bell in Sydney. This exhibition includes his highly acclaimed and challenging works Scratch an Aussie (2008) and Broken English (2009), and the premiere of Bell’s newest work The Dinner Party.
The Brisbane-based artist has been a leading force within the field of contemporary Australian art since the 1990s, making provocative gestures and works that often confront Australia’s arguably contentious racial relations. The artist frequently integrates expressions of political, cultural, social and economic disenchantment emerging out of the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and colonial migrants to Australia.
His work Scratch an Aussie (2008) takes form as a Freudian therapy session in which Bell opens up to a therapist, played by Gary Foley, about his perceptions of race relations. This session is interspersed with Bell assuming the role of therapist for a group of young blonde-haired Australians as he urges them to frankly discuss their concerns and attitudes about Aboriginal people. In Broken English (2009) Bell elucidates questions of Aboriginal political empowerment through questions posed within the various contexts of a chess game, a gallery opening and an Australia Day re-enactment of Captain Cook’s landing.
Bell’s trilogy of films will be completed through the premiere of The Dinner Party. In this film, the artist uses Brisbane’s picturesque riverfront as a backdrop for a well-catered dinner party in a luxurious mansion. Over the course of the dinner a number of famous Australians will speak, as if privately, of their views of the interrelationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in this country. These conversations and discussions occur within a context of privilege, both economic and social, and far-removed from the most obvious sites of Aboriginal disaffection and political, cultural, social and economic inequities.
Richard Bell is a member of the Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang communities. The artist has held several exhibitions since 1990 in Australia and overseas.
Imagining Victory will tour throughout regional New South Wales and Victoria from October 2014 to March 2016.
Here are some pictures to illustrate Richard Bell’s exhibition Imagining Victory at the Artspace in Sydney:
Photographs © IDAIA.