1993 was deemed ‘The Year of the Indigenous Person’ and without hesitation I started to research the Indigenous cultures of Australia-photograph cultural evidence in whatever medium it was displayed or celebrated and generate my own personal archive of material in order to make a ‘picture novel’ of these findings.
I worked on the Indigenous Documentary ‘Quest for Country’ (see seperate Journal Entry) and while in the Outback I was forever looking for ‘elements’ that could later be incorporated into a more complex visual language. The bars over the cracked earth in this image being an example.
This page is from ‘Voice of the First Day’ by Robert Lawlor and a major influence personally.
‘Bioptim’ 1993
1993
‘Kata Juta’ 1993
Redfern Wall 1993
Redfern Wall 1993
The projection in the next picture is from this 1950’s garage door
Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers
From the red dust north of Dalmore Downs
Sharman's tents roll into town
Twelve will face the auctioneer
Sharman's Boxers stand their ground
Their days are darker than your nights
But they won't be the first to fall
Children broken from their dreams
But they won't be the first to fall
Fighting in the spotlight
Eye's turn blacker than their skin
For Jimmy Sharman's boxers
It's no better if you win
Standing in the darkness
Lined up waiting for the bell
The days are wasted drinking
At the first and last hotel
Why are we fighting for this?
Why are you paying for this?
You pay to see me fall like shrapnel
To the floor
What is the reason for this?
There is a reason for this?
What is the reason they keep coming back for more?
The blows now bring him to his knees
But still the crowd calls out for more
The drums are burning in his ears
The man keeps counting out the score
‘Midnight Oil’
Redfern 1993