Monumentalisation Panel Discussion

How do First Nations artists approach representation in public spaces?

Taking artist Yhonnie Scarce‘s new commission Missile Park as a starting point, join Blaklash co-founder Troy Casey, with architect Kevin O’Brien, and artists Judy Watson, and Tony Albert as they explore the intersection of architecture, memorial culture, and the representation of First Nations histories in their own projects and practices.

Yhonnie Scarce is an artist known for her sculptural installations which range from architecturally scaled public art projects to intimate assemblages, each replete with personal and cultural histories. Yhonnie’s latest commission, Missile Park, sees three large sheds serve as a solemn memorial for the many people displaced by the impacts of nuclear testing on Aboriginal Lands. It builds on an earlier work, Blood on the Wattle (Elliston, South Australia, 1849) 2013; a powerful memorial both to those who lost their lives in the Elliston Massacre, as well as the thousands of people murdered during the frontier wars.

Yhonnie’s work demonstrates that art can play a meaningful role in interrogating our shared histories and to draw attention to pasts that have been overlooked. She has travelled the world researching memorials to genocide, which inform her own practice of marking sites of trauma. What is the impact of reclaiming these sites as First Nations spaces, how does this influence public discourse around land ownership, history and representation, and how do First Nations artists navigate this process?

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