Title
Untitled
2012
Artist
Daniel Boyd
Australia
1982 –
Language groups: Kuku Yalanji, East Cape region, Kudjala, North-east region, Wakka Wakka, North-east region, Gubbi Gubbi, North-east region, Wangerriburra, South-east region, Bundjalung, South-east region, ni-Vanuatu heritage, Ghungalu, North-east region, Yuggera, North-east region
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Details
- Places where the work was made
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Sydney
→
New South Wales
→
Australia
Cairns → Queensland → Australia
- Cultural origin
- Gangalu/Kudjala/Wakka Wakka/Gubbi Gubbi, North-east region; Kuku Yalanji, East Cape region; Wangerriburra/Bandjalung, South-east region; Ni-Vanuatu heritage
- Date
- 2012
- Media categories
- Mixed media painting , Painting
- Materials used
- oil and archival glue on canvas
- Dimensions
- 162.5 x 256.5 cm stretcher
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the Aboriginal Art Collection Benefactors 2012
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 130.2012
- Copyright
- © Daniel Boyd
- Artist information
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Daniel Boyd
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Daniel Boyd is among a group of Aboriginal artists interrogating and interrupting the notion of a grand narrative of Australian history. His work comments on the subjugation of Indigenous people and expose injustices of the past from his viewpoint of the present. In 'Untitled' 2012, Boyd explores his personal inheritance presenting an idyllic scene drawn from a found photograph of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. The island was home to his great, great paternal grandfather before he was brought to Queensland to work as a slave in the sugarcane fields. Many South Sea islanders were brought here to support this industry between 1863 and 1904, under controversial recruitment processes. They worked for little pay and often endured harsh conditions. Veiled in transparent dots the view of country is partial, incomplete like the recording of history. Rendered in a reduced palette the work is in stark contrast to typical colourful depictions of a carefree island life. It may be seen to allude to the sadness of events of the past and the personal hurt of this in the present.
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Places
Where the work was made
Sydney, Cairns
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Daniel Boyd: A Darker Shade of Dark, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Paddington, 08 Mar 2012–31 Mar 2012
When silence falls, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Dec 2015–29 May 2016
Longing for Home, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Mar 2021–22 Aug 2021
Daniel Boyd: Treasure Island, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Jun 2022–29 Jan 2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
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Dan Rule, Bergit Arends, Jarrod Rawlins, Djon Mundine and Daniel Boyd, Daniel Boyd: The law of closure, Melbourne, 2015, 36-37 (colour illus.), 187 (illus.). p 75 general reference to Boyd's series of works inspired by blackbirding in Vanuatu and his family's history
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Jill Sykes, Look, 'A winner', pg. 16-18, Sydney, May 2014, 18 (colour illus.).
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