Blood on the Wattle
Yhonnie SCARCE: artist
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This work commemorates all who have died as a result of the continually present colonial condition. It provides a place to mourn and remember those who have died during the colonisation of Australia.
The perspex coffin holds nearly 300 blown-glass black bush yams. These indigenous fruits represent the large and unknown number of Indigenous peoples who have died due to factors of white settlement. Disease, displacement, drugs and alcohol along with massacre, eugenics, violence, deprivation and passive genocide are ways in which Indigenous Australians have died at the hands of European colonisers since 1788.
In 2012, Indigenous Australians make up only 2.5% of Australia’s population. In 2012, they continue to suffer the effects of colonial rule.
The juxtaposition of the perspex coffin and blown glass also bear significance in this work symbolising the containment of Indigenous peoples, as well as the enforcement of western culture and ways of life (Artist statement 2013).
The perspex coffin holds nearly 300 blown-glass black bush yams. These indigenous fruits represent the large and unknown number of Indigenous peoples who have died due to factors of white settlement. Disease, displacement, drugs and alcohol along with massacre, eugenics, violence, deprivation and passive genocide are ways in which Indigenous Australians have died at the hands of European colonisers since 1788.
In 2012, Indigenous Australians make up only 2.5% of Australia’s population. In 2012, they continue to suffer the effects of colonial rule.
The juxtaposition of the perspex coffin and blown glass also bear significance in this work symbolising the containment of Indigenous peoples, as well as the enforcement of western culture and ways of life (Artist statement 2013).
Title
Blood on the Wattle
Artist/Maker and role
Yhonnie SCARCE: artist
Date
2013
Medium
292 pieces blown glass, perspex, steel, aluminium and fabric
Measurements
210.0 x 70.0 x 60.0 cm
Production place
Melbourne, Victoria
Display location
Credit line
Purchased through The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: TomorrowFund, 2014
© Yhonnie Scarce, 2013
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
2014/0015.a-c