Week #8 I.M.A

Our second gallery visit was to the I.M.A where we got a curator talk as we went around the Gallery. The I.M.A is an interesting gallery space that commissions their works and exhibits contemporary artists from all over the world, but a lot of the artists are Australian. The exhibition that we saw dealt with quite controversial topics, but topics that need to be discussed. 

Vernon Ah Kee, corpse table negotiation, 2016.

Vernon Ah Kee is a well-known Aboriginal Australian artist that deals with distressing topics that are important to Indigenous Australians. The work at the I.M.A is no different. I feel that the placing of this work is quite important. It is placed outside the Gallery, in the public space and the colours of the work make it quite eye-catching. 

"The outdoor work confronts the unequal dynamic at the heart of any dialogue between Aboriginal people and the state: there is an implicit rule that nobody should talk about the dead bodies (massacres, detention, deaths in custody, etc.); yet for Aboriginal people, the spectre of history must be addressed before proceeding with any negotiations.

And at any negotiating table set up by the government, participants are strategically selected in advance to ensure that the conversation can be controlled and the outcomes predicted. Despite this management, corpse table negotiation is a potent reminder that the bodies are always under the table, staring upward."

Luke Willis Thompson, Untitled, 2012.

Luke Willis Thompson is a New Zealand born artist that deals with sites and objects. In his exhibition Misadventure he explores the social and racial traumas associated with colonisation. 

"Untitled (2012) comprises three garage doors, custom metal stands, and an active security light and sensor. These everyday industrial objects bear visible traces of a grafitti act performed in 2008 by a Maori teenager, Pihema Cameron, which resulted in the pursuit and killing of Cameron by the owner of the property, a two-storey house with a double garage at its base."