'MALGA GURLBARL - HARD SECRET', at Seipple Gallery, Cologne Germany for K1 #5
Curated by Dr. Ralf Seipple with assistance from the PMK Foundation.
"Between 1800s and 1970s, First Nation workers in Australia were enslaved. Denied wages that were stolen by corrupt officials and employers, generations of First Nations in Australia were locked into a cycle of poverty that still exists today.
Badimaya/Yamatji painter, Julie Dowling, has compiled an exhibition on the theme of Slavery in Australia for First Nation people both in these past centuries and in current Australian society. From diving for pearls to back breaking farm labour, from minding children of their colonial masters to present day work for government benefits, Dowling forces Australians to face racist discourses that First Nation people were/are lazy and a drain on society. An amnesia exists whereby Australian agriculture and other primary industries were founded on the slavery of its first peoples. The works in Dowling’s exhibition speak of these atrocities and to show how beautifully resilient her people are despite this."
- Carol Dowling
Curated by Dr. Ralf Seipple with assistance from the PMK Foundation.
"Between 1800s and 1970s, First Nation workers in Australia were enslaved. Denied wages that were stolen by corrupt officials and employers, generations of First Nations in Australia were locked into a cycle of poverty that still exists today.
Badimaya/Yamatji painter, Julie Dowling, has compiled an exhibition on the theme of Slavery in Australia for First Nation people both in these past centuries and in current Australian society. From diving for pearls to back breaking farm labour, from minding children of their colonial masters to present day work for government benefits, Dowling forces Australians to face racist discourses that First Nation people were/are lazy and a drain on society. An amnesia exists whereby Australian agriculture and other primary industries were founded on the slavery of its first peoples. The works in Dowling’s exhibition speak of these atrocities and to show how beautifully resilient her people are despite this."
- Carol Dowling
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‘Unknown: Mother & Child with Wiru(Spirits)’
2017
79.5 x 119.5cm
Acrylic, Red ocher, plastic on Canvas
Description: From an image found in a souvenir web site of a postcard made showing a mother carrying her child on her back.
The photographer is not known and the subjects of the image isn't known.
‘Murningga (Woman)’
2017
91 x 122cm
Acrylic, Red ocher on Canvas
Description:
Julie Dowling's great grandmother had wages stolen from her as stock woman and horse whisperer.
This is a painting of a stock woman in homage to those brave women.
'The Pearl Divers'
2017
101.4 x 121cm
Acrylic, Red ochre and plastic on canvas
Unknown pearl divers from Derby or Broome WA.
Many First Nation children were stolen to grow up in the commercial pearl industry as slaves receiving nothing but food & shelter.
This picture shows two men working on the dock area at a port offloading pearl cargo.
Warning ⚠️ graphic description beyond this point-----
These men survived a brutal childhood and industry that was highly dangerous.
Oral history tells of children being forced to free dive to adult depths to find pearls many suffered and died from 'the bends' as a result. Others tell that if they didn't surface to the side of the pearl luggers with at least one cache of pearl shell or pearls they were refused entry back onto the boats. In many cases their hands would be broken with hammers by white crewmen and were left to drown as a result.
These First Nation children and adults were also severely mentally abused to believe their boss-masters were good people as their lives were subjected to emotional cruelty, fear of death and isolation.
I painted this picture to emphasize the global case for compensation for slavery, stolen wages and cultural dispossession in an international arena for First Nation people here.
'Unknown: Mother & Child with fruit bribe'
2017
101.4x121cm
Acrylic, Red ochre and plastic on canvas
This painting shows a mother posing with her child.
The child has been given a piece of fruit as a bribe to pose how the white photographer prefers and judging by the mother's gesture and averted angry gaze and expression she doesn't like it.
First Nation people were often press-ganged with violence and intimidation into posing for the profit of white photographers.
First Nation people were a lucrative source of income for racist whites who would sometimes 'pay' them to pose with blankets, implements (such as axes & pots) and food.
The background is the rainbow serpent spine as a protection.
I painted this picture to emphasize the global case for compensation for slavery, stolen wages and cultural dispossession in an international arena for First Nation people here.
‘The Boss Lady’s Chair’
2017
101.4x 121cm
Acrylic, Red ocher, plastic on Canvas
'The Boss-lady's chair'
2017
101.4x121cm
Acrylic, red ochre and plastic on canvas
From an image of a unknown stolen generation teen aged girl apparently ordered to decorate her slave mistresses sea-grass lawn chair with flowers.
I painted this picture to emphasize the global case for compensation for slavery, stolen wages and cultural dispossession in an international arena for First Nation people here.
'Unknown: Family at Terranora'
2017
121.7 x 101 cm
Acrylic, red ochre, plastic and mica gold on canvas
This painting shows a family living at a station & town known as Terranora in New South Wales.
The central figure holds an orphaned young red kangaroo who is burrowing into his arm as if it were a pouch.
I painted this picture to emphasize the global case for compensation for slavery, stolen wages and cultural dispossession in an international arena for First Nation people here.
‘The Unknown Tracker’
2017
91x121.8cm
Acrylic, Red ocher, plastic on Canvas
Mentioned as a ’black tracker’ but subsequent research found that he was a member of a cricket team that traveled also to England
'The House Girl'
2017
71x118.1cm
Acrylic, Red ochre, plastic, glass on canvas
From a small archival photograph of an un-named girl working in a white colonial house in the late 1930's NT or WA.
‘Unknown: Woman in Green’
March 2017
Acrylic, red ochre & mica gold on Canvas
139 x 98.5cm
Painting:
This painting shows a young woman dressed in her skirt as a covering. The original non-Indigenous photographer is unknown. Generally, such photographs were used as postcards and curios, as well as evidence of religious and scientific superiority over our women as exotic ‘others’. This series captures what appears to me, as an Indigenous woman, as an essay on assimilation into Wudjula society.
Often, the photographer would pay in small amounts of money, food, or clothing whereas the photographer would sell their images for a lot more money. I view this treatment as a form of slavery and exploitation
I wanted to paint these First Nation people because they are ‘unknown’ individuals whose spirit lives on only in the drawers of museums & antique collectors. I am claiming these images and
re-interpreting or translating them for my family and myself as Indigenous people today. There is reference made to Catholic religious iconography especially to the ‘Saints’ with symbolism seen in Badimaya art for rivers and trees.
Self Portrait: The Extreme Sport
2013-7
Acrylic, red ocher and plastic on canvas
76.5 x 51.1cm
Description:
This is a self-portrait about how most First Nation artists in Australia are women but the more 'famous' artists are all men who can claim higher prices for their art.
There is reference made to Catholic religious iconography especially to the ‘Saints’ with symbolism seen in Badimaya art for a river.
‘Family Group with spear thrower’
2017
101.4x122cm
Acrylic, Red ocher, plastic on Canvas
Photographer would often bribe their sitters to pose for them with the promise of goods such as axes or blankets. Often, they had never seen a camera before.
‘Unknown: Nanny in Green’
March 2017
Acrylic, red ochre & mica gold on Canvas
125 x 99.5cm
Painting:
This painting shows a middle aged First Nation woman dressed in her shawl holding the child of her ‘boss-lady’ (her slave owner).
The original non-Indigenous photographer is unknown. Generally, such photographs were used as family portraits exposing their wealth and status to be able to have servants and slaves. In other images they became curios, as well as evidence of religious and scientific superiority over our women as exotic ‘others’. This series captures what appears to me, as an Indigenous woman, as an essay on assimilation into Wudjula society.
Jardi (goanna) tracks running in the gold sky.
I painted this picture to emphasize the global case for compensation for slavery, stolen wages and cultural dispossession in an international arena for First Nation people here.
Icon to a Stolen Child: Bilygi (Cleaning)
2017
45.5 x 30cm
Acrylic, Red ocher, plastic on Canvas
This is an icon showing a young girl wearing a cleaning apron. She is surrounded by aura of found objects.
Description: Part of an ongoing series since 1998 depicting members of the stolen generation of first nation children in Australia.
This image is part of a series of icons showing the many chores performed by the stolen generation after they were taken away from their culture and families. Unpaid child slave labour was common within state institutions and in missions right up until the late 1970’s.
'Icon to a Stolen Child: Bayadya (Brush)'
2017
30x46cm
Acrylic, Red ochre and plastic on canvas
A child domestic servant who was stolen from family and community in order to assimilate in the 1960’s.
Servants were often told to be overly clean & spotless in order to serve in white houses or would be returned back to the missions they were employed from…some as young as 8 or 9 years old.
‘Icon to a Stolen Child: Nganmi (Good Person)’
2017
30x46cm
Acrylic, Red ocher, plastic on Canvas
Girls who were taken into ‘service’ as domestic servants were often regarded with suspicion as thieves and were often accused of theft if they rebelled against their white bosses.
Icon to a Stolen Child: Bawuwa (Cooking)
2017
45.5 x 30cm
Acrylic, Red ocher, plastic on Canvas
This is an icon showing a young girl wearing a cooking cloths and head scarf as worn by girls on mission stations in orphanages while they cooked for their slave owners, priests, nuns and working stockmen. Surrounded by an aura of found object which these child slaves would store away in biscuit tins or jam jars.
Description: Part of an ongoing series since 1998 depicting members of the stolen generation of first nation children in Australia.
This image is part of a series of icons showing the many chores performed by the stolen generation after they were taken away from their culture and families. Unpaid child slave labour was common within state institutions and in missions right up until the late 1970’s.
