The work will be on display for one month at the Baru Art Space, right beside the popular Redfern establishment. Baru Art is an emerging non-profit arts organisation creating opportunities for artists working in the Asia-Pacific region.
The installation is titled, “What’s Up DOCS?!”, and depicts an Aboriginal doll captured in a white hand against the backdrop of a red and yellow stop sign. Hill says it is a response to a national campaign calling for the return of “stolen children” and investment in services to keep Aboriginal families together.
In his artist statement, Hill says: “Few people realise that the removal of Indigenous children from their families has continued unabated … one in 10 Indigenous children have been taken from their families in NSW alone.”
Hill is renowned for his sharp political commentary. He recently held an exhibition of work in the Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Utrecht (Netherlands). Bomb explored questions of racism and nationalism in Australia.
The NDA on May 26 was initiated by a group of Grandmothers from Gunnedah known as Grandmothers Against Removals (GMAR) with the support of Aboriginal rights groups across the country.
A national statement issued to mark the occasion says: “More Aboriginal children are now being taken away than at any previous time in Australia’s black and white history – this cannot be allowed to continue.”
“Removals that are happening now are no different from those in the 20th century. Police are regularly sent with weapons to rip our children away. Mothers who fight back are jailed. Babies are taken from their mothers at birth,” the statement continues.
Hill’s artwork inspired the national poster for the NDA. The artist also has work featured in the Frontier Wars group exhibition at Damien Minton Gallery in Elizabeth St, Redfern, until June 7 (see www.damienmintongallery.com.au).
