Sydney’s 17th Biennale promotes Aboriginal culture through contemporary Canadian art
Sydney’s 17th Biennale promotes Aboriginal culture through contemporary Canadian art
Attracting over half a million, the 17th Biennale of Sydney provides a 3-month forum to highlight Canadian contemporary art within a major international visual arts festival.
In one of the strongest showings ever, this year’s Biennale featured nine Canadian artists, several of Aboriginal heritage. The Canadian artists examined issues surrounding Aboriginality and promoted cross‑cultural dialogue on Aboriginal roles in modern society.
This year, Canada partnered with the Biennale through the Understanding Canada Program, which focuses on promoting greater knowledge and understanding of Canadian culture around the world.
Beau Dick Installation at the MCA
Canadian artists at the 17th Biennale of Sydney
Annie Pootoogook’s quirky drawings
The Canadian works were based on Artistic Director David Elliott’s theme, “The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age.” The works were placed together with those of Australian and other international artists at Sydney's leading cultural institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) and Cockatoo Island, a historic industrial site in the heart of Sydney Harbour.
Major paintings at the MCA by First Nations artist Kent Monkman uniquely explored historical themes including colonial relationships and first contact.
Also displayed at the MCA was a collection of Annie Pootoogook’s quirky drawings. These drawings convey naïve simplicity together with disturbing depictions of Inuit life within the modern world.
Whether worn in ceremonial dance or exhibited in contemporary art contexts, Beau Dick’s masks reflect the artist’s study of traditional forms of North West Coast carving, as well as influences from the art of other cultures.
Skeena Reece gave riveting and provocative performances from a contemporary Aboriginal woman’s perspective at Sydney’s ARTSPACE.
These works reasserted First Nations culture with voices and images that were once hidden, lost or forbidden.
Althea Thauberger, a recent Canadian war artist in Afghanistan, displayed a large photographic still and an associated video at Cockatoo Island, both of which captured an isolated community.
Adding to Canada’s strength of involvement, seven Aboriginal curators traveled to Australia to enhance network building and knowledge sharing with local industry, curators and venue authorities.
Jim Logan of The Canada Council for the Arts noted that “the Sydney Biennale has worked toward creating what is known in Canada as a positive and inclusive event that many Canadian Aboriginal curators and artists have found attractive. The networking and knowledge exchanged here is vital to the ongoing effort to raise global awareness of Canadian Aboriginal art. Canadian Aboriginal curators and artists are seeking opportunities to collaborate, market and exhibit outside of Canada.”
Several projects have already resulted from or are in development because of the curators’ visit, including an Urban Aboriginal Residency Exchange in Sydney and a survey exhibition on contemporary Aboriginal media arts associated with the Adelaide International Film Festival.
With the involvement of Understanding Canada, the Biennale has fostered ongoing academic linkages. Two major forums focused on policy, practice and outreach with various universities were carried out through the Biennale’s Public Program agenda.
Founded in 1973, the Biennale of Sydney is one of the oldest and most respected events on the international arts calendar, and Canada has been involved since 1982.
For the 18th Biennale of Sydney, June 27 – September 16, 2012, Dr. Gerald McMaster will be the Joint Artistic Director with Catherine de Zegher. This will mark the first time in the Biennale’s history that a Canadian has been appointed to this prestigious role and underlines the long-standing strength of Canada’s involvement in this major international festival.
Gerald McMaster is a curator and writer, and since 2005 has been the Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. He was also a member of the curatorial team for this year’s Scotiabank Nuit Blanche in Toronto. At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, Mr. McMaster was the Director’s Special Assistant for Mall Exhibitions and Deputy Assistant Director for Cultural Resources from 2000–2004. Mr. McMaster was also Curator, Canadian Museum of Civilization (1981–2000).
