Exhibition Sittings: Tony Albert

Tony Albert at Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum

Photo sourced from exhibition catalogue

Photo sourced from exhibition catalogue

This work by Tony Albert was really interesting in terms of the way that the artist was referencing the work of Gordon Bennett. The work made up of a number of works set up on plinths and other drawings, paintings, cut outs, and collaged works in frames on the wall. The framed works on the wall sat on a red target and were emotive in the message they sent to the viewer. The pieces that made up the work were exploring the racism that exists within the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League, and society more broadly. The continued presence of this racism against Indigenous Australians is explored by Albert in a satirical form. The piece within the installation called Daddy's little girl (after Gordon Bennett) responds to the incident in which a NRL coach called an Indigenous rugby player a 'black c*nt' and tried to play it off as unmalicious clubroom banter. The work shows a young girl watching a game of rugby league and spells out the words 'black c*nt' as her father watches approvingly from the couch. The painted work is accompanied by blocks on a plinth that spell out the same words. This work is accompanied by a letter that Albert wrote to Gordon Bennett and gives a commentary on the work, in addition to explaining his admiration for and influenced received from the late artist. The wall adjacent to this work shows the framed works that discuss these ideas further. Covers and sections of children's books have been altered to suggest that these notions of racism are deep set and seen from a young age. 

The way that the artist has arranged the works is important. If the viewer starts at the plinths they can follow the work around and see a clear dialogue from the artist. The work uses the space effective and it feels like an exhibition within itself. I am drawn to the way that Albert has condensed so many framed works into such a small space. They play off one another and give a very powerful message that challenges the treatment of the Indigenous people in a quiet but intense way. The works are confronting even though they make use of so many childish elements that are familiar to the viewer. I think this is another reason why the work is so powerful. I was able to look at it and recognise things from my own childhood before Albert forced me to see them in a completely different light. This made me question my memory. Had I looked at these books in a completely naive way? Am I looking at the world around me in a completely naive way? I wondered whether I had ever contributed to the long standing racial stereotyping, cultural misrepresentations or the power imbalance between the Indigenous and everyone else, the colonised and the colonisers.

I think the work is complex and powerful. It explores memory, representation and the power of words. I do not think that there is anything about it that I would change.