I Will Survive #1 2020
MILLAR BAKER, Hayley (Gunditjmara/Djabwurrung)
Registration number
1809870
Artist/maker
MILLAR BAKER, Hayley (Gunditjmara/Djabwurrung)
Title
I Will Survive #1
Production date
2020
Medium
inkjet print on Canson Baryta
Dimensions (H x W x D)
93 x 70 cm
Credit line
Purchased 2021
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection
© the artist, courtesy of the artist and Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
Keywords
Summary
This artwork from the series I Will Survive by Hayley Millar Baker was acquired by the Art and Heritage Collection in 2021. Hayley Millar Baker is a Gunditjmara and Djabwurrung visual artist born and based in South-West Melbourne, Australia (1990).
I Will Survive is concerned with stories of caution, superstition, and survival in the bush that were passed on to Hayley as a child. These cautions came in the form of warnings, myths, stories of ghosts and hauntings from her Aboriginal and migrant parents and grandparents. Carried from a young age, these experiences and stories become embellished or accrue heightened emotional resonances – they shift and change in their constant retelling. While some recollections become fictionalised, others cinematic and profound. The stories and memories that are planted as early seeds grow and change as we experience life.
'A memory changes whenever it is remembered, and its revision becomes a new truth.
The truth is I Will Survive isn’t the truth, but maybe it is. The action of exploiting memories for the purpose of storytelling is often done without conscious thought. Memories when created, are subjective to their beholder and when recited, are adjusted according to their audience.
Recalling memories formed in my childhood and ruminating on these stories in adulthood, I can’t help but dissect my memory’s influences and influencers, and what roles my Aboriginal and migrant parents and grandparents played in feeding lessons and myths into my subconscious.' - Hayley Millar Baker, 2020