Final Work
460,000 (2018)
Video, 4m 52s
Can creative acts be rebellious when rebellion has become canonised in art, design and media histories? What would a contemporary creative rebellion look like?
460,000 (2018) aims to represent the history of Aboriginal Australians in an auditory as well as visual format and invoke a sense of security later broken through violence. The video starts at 460,000 however, the exact date of Aboriginal Australians arriving is disputed with the most generally accepted date being between 40,000–80,000 years BCE. The study of certain stone tools found in New South Wales have suggested the Aboriginal Australians settles within NSW 45,000 to 50,000 BCE. I wanted to focus on these dates rather than Australia as a whole to give a more personal connection to the piece and the area where I’m currently living. The audio was chosen specifically without a native language chanting as there are over 200 Aboriginal dialects within Australia and I didn’t want to limit the understanding to a specific community. Rather, the traditional didgeridoo rhythms by Lewis Burns, an Aboriginal Australian Artist, resonates throughout the culture as is uninterrupted throughout the video until 1788. At 1788 sounds of British grenadiers marching and firing begins as this date is the generally accepted year of Australia’s invasion by First Fleet at Port Jackson with Captain Arthur Phillip taking ‘formal possession’ of the colony of NSW by raising the British flag for the first time in Sydney Cove.
The audio of the didgeridoo fades out and remains so until 1928, with the main focus of the audio on the gunfire. This is because there were massacres of Aboriginal Australians in great numbers from the day of invasion up until The Coniston massacre, which took place from 14 August to 18 October 1928 and was the last known officially sanctioned massacre of Indigenous Australians. An audio clip of Rabbit Proof Fence begins to play during 1910-1970. This is due to this period being when many Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families as a result of various government policies, later known as the Stolen Generations. The didgeridoo comes in again and audio of Kevin Rudd’s ‘Sorry’ speech begins after that to symbolise the measures Australians have taken to apologise and try and rebuild the relationship between indigenous and non indigenous Australians such as legislations and referendums trying to lessen the gap of inequality including changing two sections of the Constitution, which discriminated against Aboriginal Australians including extending the right to vote to the indigenous people.
The beginning of the video is meant to give a false sense of security with the continuous audio and limited visuals while simultaneously providing a sense of unease with the timer. The period before any additional audio makes the gunfire abrupt and sudden, a disturbance of the peace mimicking the reality that aboriginal people faced. The last minute is filled with the sounds of violence and screaming with only about twenty-seconds apologising for such bloodshed. The choice of red for the countdown clock has obvious connotations of blood and violence which indicates to the audience from the beginning what’s to come, a symbol of the bloodstained history of Aboriginal people. Experimentation with the colour of the countdown was undertaken however, the continuous use of red was found to be the most effective.
Drawing off the first assessment, my goal was to break away from imagery and rather focus on audio in a video format. I wanted to challenge myself to express my continued concept in a different form than I was used to which is simple imagery often shown in traditional or digital pieces. In reference to the question, art based on today’s controversial topics were not necessarily described as rebellious as art based on them are common place. Rather, art based on controversial topics of the past which society has decided to forget and bringing them into the present (e.g. The Stolen Generation) is more rebellious against society. The rebellious act of 460,000 (2018) is the rejection of the popular notion that post-invasion, the lives of Australians have been positive and peaceful. Rather the piece shows that for centuries before the invasion, Aboriginal people were arguable undisturbed and peaceful, a life which was distributed by the brutality of the English’s desire to colonise. The audio of the piece clearly illustrates such ideas and is therefore one of the most effective means of demonstrating such concepts.
Attwood, B. and Markus, A. (2018). The 1967 referendum. [online] Ergo. Available at: http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/fight-rights/indigenous-rights/1967-referendum [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
Australianstogether.org.au. (2018). Australians Together | The Stolen Generations. [online] Available at: https://www.australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/stolen-generations [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
British grenadiers march — British line infantry attack. (2014). [DVD] Directed by B. Lyndon. Youtube.
Korff, J. (2018). Australia Day - Invasion Day. [online] Creative Spirits. Available at: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/australia-day-invasion-day [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
Rabbit-Proof Fence. (2002). [film] Directed by P. Noyce. Australia: Rumbalara Films.
Traditional Didgeridoo Rhythms. (2017). [video] Directed by L. Burns. The Tribal Rhythms Gathering: Youtube.
Attenbrow, Val (2010). Sydney’s Aboriginal Past: Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records. Sydney: UNSW Press. pp. 152–153. ISBN 978-1-74223-116-7. [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
