Place of the Red Kangaroo

Tandanya - The place of the Red Kangaroo, Tarnda's place.

After weeks of planning to go to Tandanya, I finally went today. I joined the free cultural tour and got to be brought around the gallery with a group of people as our guide talked about the different exhibitions that were going on. While the tour itself was shorter than expected, it was a really eye-opening experience. Being my first time in an Aboriginal art gallery, it was interesting to see the diversity of their art. From photography to modern sculptural works, each of the 3 exhibitions that were on display surprisingly had their own unique style and they were different to the expected dot painting and rark. Peter Sharrock works were white and abstract with simple, clean flowing lines, contrasting with the rich warm colours of many “traditional” paintings we often see. They had a honeycomb style to them, similar to paper cuts.

Peter Sharrock's artwork

http://www.artwhatson.com.au/tandanya/believe/the-mark

Christopher Crebbin's painting

http://www.tandanya.com.au

Apart from Peter Sharrock’s exhibition, there was also “Eleven,” an exhibition by Christopher Crebbin Christopher Crebbin's work were amazing, each of them seems to have their own unique style, as if they were each painted by different people when in fact, they were each influenced by different places that the artist has been to, such as Japan. Although his works were diverse, they had the common theme of the water serpent, which body flowed from frame to frame. One of the most interesting aspect of Christopher Crebbin’s work was the hidden figures in his paintings which were created through matte and glossy areas. It’s a pity that I couldn’t attend the artist talk, which would be interesting to find out his intention of doing so.

Sophie Abbott, Taylee Healy, 2010, digital photograph.

On the other hand, Sophie Abbott’s photographs showed beautiful images of South Australian Aboriginal women. What striked me the most when I looked at the exhibition was that some of the women who were photographed seem to not be “Aboriginal” and that the image of Aboriginal women portrayed and those that I have come to know are completely different.  Studying about Race Representation last semester as part of my Conteporary Issues on Design, and focusing on African Americans. There  is a clear link that can be seen in the way how Aborginal people are perceived today and how African Americans have been perceived in past (and in certain cases until today). Their representation are often stereotypical and limited, while white women are portrayed in diverse ways, the representation of Aboriginal and African American women are often limited.

Overall, my frist visit to Tandanya was a very refreshing experience and will definitely be followed by many more visits to Aboriginal exhitions and performances.

FYI. For those who want to go on a cultural tour in Tandanya, there's a free one every Thursday at 11 am!