Hunting Ground #1 2007
THOMPSON, Christian (Bidjara)
Registration number
1285519
Artist/maker
THOMPSON, Christian (Bidjara)
Title
Hunting Ground #1
Production date
2007
Medium
type-C print
Dimensions (H x W x D)
55 x 55 cm (image)
Credit line
Purchased 2008
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection
© Courtesy of the artist and Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin
Keywords
Summary
Dr Christian Thompson AO is an important local figure as an artist, activist and writer. He mainly works within the genre of self-portraiture and impersonation and the hunting ground series captures his ongoing preoccupations. In this series there is reference to Dutch masters with the wearing of the ruffled collar and the use of the "lens" play with vision and the gaze. These are significant issues for the representation of Aboriginality and the aim here is to invert the anthropological gaze. In a collection in which grand lord mayoral portraits dominate, this work has a bitter and intelligent presence.