The Unwritten Histories of Iconoclasm in Australia: Actors, Methods and Theory
Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 12:00:00 am UTC
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Session Convenors
Nikolas Orr, University of Newcastle
Dr José Antonio González Zarandona
Session Speakers
Travis De Vries
Dr Julie Gough
Nikolas Orr, University of Newcastle
Dr José Antonio González Zarandona
The term iconoclasm has evolved to include all kinds of images and practices. Yet, through this expansion, theories of iconoclasm remain rooted in European histories of Byzantium, the Protestant Reformation, French Revolution or the fall of the USSR. In contrast, histories of iconoclasm in (and from) European settler colonies are largely unwritten. This situation has led experts, such as David Freedberg, to try to explain recent anti-racist and anti-colonial destruction through their work on entirely different historical periods. How useful, though, are existing theories of iconoclasm for understanding the destruction and defacement of cultural heritage and monuments in Australia? How do these theories stand up against real cases of contemporary iconoclastic challenges to colonialism as practised by First Nations artists? In answering these questions, as theorists of iconoclasm we must face the limits of our own knowledge; we must re-test our hypotheses and study cases on their own terms. We, therefore, invited some of the most active iconoclasts in Australia – First Nations contemporary artists – to reflect on the motives, targets and treatments that animate their work. Our aim is to open up the field to scrutiny in order that iconoclast and scholar of iconoclasm might reshape theory together.
Tearing it Down, A Rumination on the Role of Iconoclasm in Indigenous Futurism as a Aspirational Goal
Travis De Vries
The work Tear it Down (Cook Falling) presented a fictional image of the destruction of the Captain Cook Statue in Sydney. The artist; Travis De Vries, who created the image, will give context to the work, detailing the use of iconoclasm within the work as an inspirational political goal for First Nations activists alongside the symbolism of colonial and imperialist power structures. The work forms one small scene in a larger narrative graphic novel that explores the act of revenge within the relationships between First Nations people still living under a dominant colonial society without true self-determination.
Breathing Space and Addressing the Masses
Dr Julie Gough
The contestation of details in the pasts shared between colonisers and colonised of our island is made evident by its multiple names: Lutruwita/Tasmania/Van Diemen’s Land. Colonial families, holders of power and of lands inhabited 60,000+ years by some, and up to 220 years by others who prefer by them prefer the difficult past to remain buried, undisturbed. In this unsettled state of disputation Aboriginal people are now refusing to be silenced, challenging the given order of things, to draw attention to the realities endured by Aboriginal people. This paper outlines two art | history projects Breathing Space (2021) and Missing or Dead (2019) which worked to present alternative intermedial ways to confront unresolved ongoing traumatic legacies.
The Unwritten Histories of Iconoclasm in Australia: Actors, Methods and Theory
Nikolas Orr, University of Newcastle
Dr José Antonio González Zarandona
We don’t see this being a typical panel where people come to present their findings but an open and live process of discovery, a workshop of ideas. Our interest is in challenging our own thinking by listening to Travis and Julie’s experiences as practising artists and First Peoples. We picture this panel starting with a 15-minute introduction from us to contextualize iconoclasm in more detail, outlining how our aims have shaped the format of the panel. Then we will hear from Travis and Julie, in turn, with particular emphasis on Julie’s Breathing Space (from Hobart City’s Crowther Reinterpretation Project) and Travis’ Tear It Down (Cook Falling). We will be taking notes during your presentations. From these notes, over the following 15 minutes we would reflect on the conceptual fit between your work and theories of iconoclasm. This section would be a self-critical reflection by us, and also a casual dialogue between the four of us, a kind of meeting between practice and theory, a time to find areas of common ground and disagreement. After that, the final 20 minutes would be open to the audience to make comments or direct questions to the panel.
Biographies
Travis De Vries
Travis De Vries is an award winning visual artist, who has held solo exhibitions in Edinburgh (UK), Sydney and Regional NSW and has been part of numerous group exhibitions, art prizes and residencies. He is a trained dancer and fine artist and is alumni of NAISDA Dance College, where he was awarded the inaugural Chairmans Award. Travis completed residencies with Lane Cove Gallery, Muswellbrook Art Gallery, The Australian Museum and Australian based physical theatre company Legs on the Wall. Travis creates unique, narrative led large-scale exhibitions combining multiple forms; paintings, drawings, projections and experiential sculptures focusing on recreating and evolving Indigenous and Western Mythologies for a modern era. Storytelling is at the heart of his practice, through the use of fable, metaphor, symbolism and storytelling tropes he invokes a deep connection with audiences to explore a range of both personal and universal themes including; Indigeneity, violence, destruction, politics, love, death and relationships.
Dr Julie Gough
Julie Gough is an artist, writer and curator based in Hobart. Her art/research often uncovers and re-presents conflicting and subsumed histories. Her (Briggs-Johnson-Gower) family have lived in the Latrobe region of Lutruwita (Tasmania) since the 1840s, with Tebrikunna in the far north east their Trawlwoolway Traditional Country. Gough holds a PhD from the University of Tasmania (Visual Arts, 2001), Masters degree (Visual Arts) University of London, Goldsmiths College (1998), Bachelor degrees in Visual Arts (Curtin University), Prehistory and English literature (University of Western Australia). Publications include Tense Past (Tebrikunna Press, 2021) preceded by Fugitive History (UWA Press) and Shale (A Published Event), both in 2018. Goughs artwork is held in many Australian collections and more than 150 exhibitions since 1994 include: Rivus: Biennale of Sydney, 2022; Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia, 2021; Eucalyptusdom, Powerhouse Museum, NSW, 2021; TENSE PAST, TMAG, 2019; Divided Worlds, Adelaide Biennial, 2018; Defying Empire, NGA (National Gallery of Australia), 2017; THE NATIONAL, Museum of Contemporary Art, NSW, 2017; With Secrecy and Despatch, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2016; UNDISCLOSED, NGA, 2012; Clemenger Award, National Gallery of Victoria, 2010; Biennale of Sydney, 2006; Liverpool Biennial, UK, 2001; Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1995.
Nikolas Orr, University of Newcastle
Nikolas Orr is a PhD candidate at the Centre for the Study of Violence (University of Newcastle, Australia). His thesis looks at anti-colonial iconoclasm from a transnational perspective. Nikolas holds a Masters in Contemporary Art History and Visual Culture from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Universidad Autnoma de Madrid and first-class Honours in Fine Arts (Sculpture) from the University of Sydney. He has published in Index Journal and Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity and has work in press with the English Historical Review and in edited volumes under Brill and Routledge. Nikolas has presented his research in ArtsHub, ABC Radio and the Newcastle Herald and is a public art advisor to the City of Newcastle.
Dr Jos Antonio Gonzlez Zarandona
Jos Antonio Gonzlez Zarandona is an art historian based in Melbourne. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne (2014). He has received fellowships from the British Academy and Columbia University. He is interested in the intersections between art and heritage. His book on the destruction of Indigenous rock art (Murujuga: Rock Art, Heritage and Landscape Iconoclasm) was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2020. He is the author of over 50 academic and non-academic publications. He is currently co-editing the Routledge Handbook of Heritage Destruction.