Gudjerie Kwin (from 'Mulaga Gudjerie' series)
Darren SIWES: artist
The two photographs are from the artist’s 2013 series, Mulaga Gudgerie, which features the Queen and Prince of Australia dressed up ‘to the nines’ in their Royal garb. The uncovered flesh of their bodies is caked with white theatre paint, creating unreal figures that appear like waxworks. The photographs are not about beauty and the painted colour of each actor’s skin is not meant to appear to be natural. Darren Siwes asks, ‘if we accept Aboriginal people as kings and queens would we then accept the things they do as just and enlightened – the same way society does for the elite? Or would they still be gazed upon with suspicion’. By creating discomfort, Siwes gives us an opportunity to build new ideas and dialogues that make us look anew at ourselves, and at the structures placed around us.
Title
Gudjerie Kwin (from 'Mulaga Gudjerie' series)
Artist/Maker and role
Darren SIWES: artist
Date
2013
Medium
giclee print on Kodak lustre paper
Measurements
136.2 x 116 x 3.5 cm (framed)
Production place
Adelaide, South Australia
Credit line
Purchased 2013
© Darren Siwes, 2013
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
2013/0058