Is it ok to be two things at once
Julie DOWLING: artist
I painted this because I get asked sometimes why I identify as Badimaya
First Nation when I look “so white”.
Within white society I get asked many personal questions about my
identity as if it is their right. This arrogance means that when you have
been raised in your Badimia family, you know what such questions mean.
It is the total ignorance of what happened when our ancestors were
raped and exploited for generations. I am the product of the breeding
out program.
I painted a picture to tell post-modernists that I would not be a bridge so
that cultural appropriation and theft of First Nations intellectual property
couldn’t happen.
First Nation when I look “so white”.
Within white society I get asked many personal questions about my
identity as if it is their right. This arrogance means that when you have
been raised in your Badimia family, you know what such questions mean.
It is the total ignorance of what happened when our ancestors were
raped and exploited for generations. I am the product of the breeding
out program.
I painted a picture to tell post-modernists that I would not be a bridge so
that cultural appropriation and theft of First Nations intellectual property
couldn’t happen.
Title
Is it ok to be two things at once
Artist/Maker and role
Julie DOWLING: artist
Date
1996
Medium
synthetic polymer paint, red ochre and blood on canvas
Measurements
104 x 65 cm
Credit line
Purchased 1996
© Julie Dowling / Copyright Agency
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
1996/0287