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Tony Albert Thou Didst Let Fall

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Tony Albert Thou Didst Let Fall v TONY ALBERT THOU DIDST LET FALL v 2 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 3 / www.sullivanstrumpf.com / 799 Elizabeth St Zetland 2017 / T. 61 2 9698 4696 THOU DIDST LET FALL In Tony Albert’s upcoming solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, the many hidden histories and quette of the sculpture accompanies a delicately embellished visual diary documenting the stories of war are revealed through a series of installations, paintings and sculptures. Inspired by artist’s journey throughout the commission process. his family, who share over 80 years of combined military service, Thou didst let fall marks the cul- In 2011 Albert made history, becoming the frst Aboriginal person to be selected as an Ofcial mination of a four- year journey, during which Albert was commissioned by the City of Sydney to War Artist by the Australian War Memorial. He was deployed to the North West Mobile Force create a major monument honouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service personnel and was deployed on a tour of duty as an Ofcial War Artist for the Australian War Memorial. (NORFORCE), a non-combatant infantry battalion located in Northern Australia. Responsible for patrolling and protecting Australia’s most vulnerable border, the NORFORCE regiment com- Thou didst let fall reinterprets the ANZAC tradition and continues to explore a core belief that prises sixty-percent Indigenous service men and women, who are recruited from communities underpins Albert’s practice: ‘the greatest gift we can give our children is historical truth.’ In Uni- across the Top End of Australia, the Torres Strait Islands and beyond. versal Soldier, a reference to Bufy Sainte-Marie’s 1964 song by the same name, kitsch Aboriginal ephemera are assembled to form a silhouette of a soldier carrying his wounded comrade. Bound With the support of their communities NORFORCE personnel take leave from their cultural respon- together by torn camoufage fabric and twine, the installation not only conveys the power of hu- sibilities and adopt the name ‘Green Skin’, a highly revered title that supersedes their familial skin manity, friendship and compassion, but also contests conventional history, which has largely over- name. In Albert’s Green Skins paintings, delicate silhouettes of soldiers, text, numbers and shapes looked the contributions made by Indigenous soldiers. Albert states: are superimposed over vintage war comics depicting white soldiers humiliating and objectifying “I’ve been interested in the idea of camoufage. In a way it’s the opposite of a target [used Aboriginal men and women. As Albert himself states in previous work]. It’s about concealing, rather than drawing attention – camoufaging until the point of complete erasure and eradication. Since our stories are being eradicated, “At the core of my work is a kind of reconciliation with these racist objects’ very the camoufage functions like a disease, creeping over our histories.” existence. Yes, they are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women have served in every confict since colonisa- should not be forgotten.” tion, including what is known as ‘the frontier wars’, in which it is estimated up to one million Abo- riginal men, women and children were murdered. In the trenches, enlisted soldiers were treated as Rather than rejecting or reinforcing these dehumanising paradigms, Albert reconstructs the equals; however, on their return to Australia they were greeted with the same racism they faced narrative, writing Indigenous service men and women back into history. Through the process before leaving for war, and continued to fght for citizenship, land rights, equal wages and the right of literally overwriting these racist representations, Albert presents an altruistic perspective to raise their own children. Albert’s grandfather Eddie experienced this injustice frst hand after narrowly escaping execution during World War II. Unlike other Diggers, Eddie and his fellow Indig- that, like so much of his work, stresses positivity in the face of adversity. enous soldiers did not receive land grants for their service. His remarkable story of survival is the inspiration behind Albert’s artwork YININMADYEMI Thou didst let fall, a major public art monument honouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women. Commissioned by the City of Sydney and launched at Hyde Park on 18 March 2015, the sculpture comprises four seven-metre-tall bullets and three fallen shells sculpted from steel, corten and black marble. In Albert’s exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, a bronze scaled ma- Wake Up 2014 assemblage made up of reworked objects, fabric and twine 120 x 120 x 8 cm 6 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 7 8 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 9 10 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 11 Universal Soldier 2014 assemblage made up of reworked objects, fabric and twine 273 x 190.5 x 5.5 cm 12 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert Brothers 2013 (detail) 13 Brothers 2013 installation view Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 14 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 15 16 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 17 18 19 Thou didst let fall 2014 assemblage made up of reworked objects, fabric and twine 161 x 550 cm x 11 cm Brothers 2013 (detail) 20 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 21 Brothers 2013 (detail) 22 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 23 Nice work, Jackie 2014 acrylic on canvas 102 x 122.5 cm 24 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 25 If these Abo’s only had some creative ability! 2014 acrylic on canvas 102 x 122.5 cm 26 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 27 Aw yes; Jackie had a cow, but it died 2014 acrylic on canvas 122 x 102 cm 28 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 29 Hello, Paleface! 2014 acrylic on canvas 122.5 x 102 cm 30 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 31 I knew our canoes would not stand that 2014 acrylic on canvas 152.5 x 122 cm 32 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 33 Hello Blondie 2014 acrylic on canvas 152.5 x 122 cm 34 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 35 That’ll teach you to point bone at me 2014 acrylic on canvas 152.5 x 122 cm 36 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 37 that’ll teach you 2014 acrylic on canvas 152.5 x 213.5 cm 38 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 39 40 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 41 Yininmadyemi 2015 bronze 82.5 x 119.5 cm 42 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 43 44 sullivan+strumpf / Tony Albert 45 Wake Up 2015 Wake Up 2015 pigment print with hand embellishment pigment print with hand embellishment 42 x 29.5 cm 42 x 29.5 cm edition 2 of 3 (Unique) edition 1 of 3 (Unique) Wake Up 2015 pigment print with hand embellishment 42 x 29.5 cm edition 3 of 3 (Unique) TONY ALBERT Born 1981, Townsville, QLD EDUCATION SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2009 me-take, Perth Centre for Photography, Liege, Belgium; Cité Internationale 2013 Colour Theory, National Indigenous Perth des Arts, Paris Television (Channel 34) 2004 Bachelor of Visual Arts, Contemporary 2014 We Come In Peace, Sullivan+Strumpf, 2009 Octopus, Gertrude Contemporary, 2007 Videotek, produced by P-10, Back Indigenous Australian Art, Sydney Melbourne Room, Post Museum SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Queensland College of Art, Grifth 2013 Brothers, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 2009 New Order, Redclife Art Gallery, 2007 gadens : top ten, Gadens Lawyers, University, Brisbane Brisbane Brisbane 2013 Be Deadly Mural, Redfern Jarjum Davidson, Helen. ‘Indigenous War Memorial: College, Redfern Street, Sydney 2009 The Museum Efect, Lake Macquarie 2007 Friendly Fire, George Petelin Gallery, design unveiled in Sydney’s Hyde City Art Gallery, Lake Macquarie Gold Coast 2013 Projecting Our Future, Level 2 Project Park’ The Guardian, 8 November AWARDS AND PRIZES Space, Art Gallery of New South 2009 I Have Not Been Myself Lately, 2007 Amersham Trophy, proppaNOW 2013 Wales, Sydney Queensland College of Art Gallery, Studio, Brisbane McDonald, John. ‘String Theory’ Sydney Grifth University, Brisbane 2007 Celebrating Aboriginal Rights? Morning Herald, Spectrum, 31 2014 National Telstra Art Award, Museum 2012 Family, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney 2009 The 10th Biennial of Havana, Havana, Macquarie University Art Gallery, August 2013 and Art Gallery of the Northern 2011 Be Deadly, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cuba Sydney Territory, Darwin Cairns Contemporary Regional ‘Brother from Another Mother’ Timeout 2009Terra Nullius, ACC Galerie Weimar, 2006 Winners are Grinners, The Perth Sydney, August 2013 2014 Basil Sellers Art Prize, Ian Potter Gallery, Cairns Weimar, Germany Institute of Contemporary Arts, 2010 Pay Attention, City Gallery Wellington, Eastside FM, Radio Interview, 26 August Museum of Art, Melbourne, Perth; The Meat Market, winner Wellington, New Zealand 2009 Temperature 2, Museum of Brisbane, 2013 Brisbane Melbourne 2008 Must Have Been Love, Canberra Das Platform, Interview, August 2013 2014 - 15 City of Sydney, Hyde Park War 2006 Artworkers Award, Raw Space Gallery, Memorial Contemporary Art Space, Canberra 2009 Origami High Street, Horus & Deloris FBI Radio Interview, August 2013 Contemporary Art Space, Pyrmont, Brisbane 2012 Ofcial War Artist, Northern Territory Fortesque, Elizabeth. ‘Portraits of Defance Sydney 2006 The Bodies That Were Not Ours, Linden have a message for all’ The Norforce, Australian War Memorial, GROUP EXHIBITIONS St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Canberra 2008 Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery/ Telegraph, 16 August 2013, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Arts, St Kilda, Victoria 2009 Linden Postcard Show, Linden Centre ‘Preview: String Theory’ Art Monthly 2014 Dark Heart, Adelaide Biennial of 2006 From The Edge, The University of New for Contemporary Arts, 2008 Half Light, Art Gallery of New South Australia, Issue 261, July 2013, p 52 Australian Art, Adelaide Wales, Sydney South Wales, Sydney Melbourne, winner Wolf, Sharne, ‘Projecting Our Future’ The Art 2013 Vivid Memories: An Aboriginal Art 2006 Tell ‘em ya dreaming, The Dreaming - 2008 Spirit of Youth Australia, Qantas, 2008 Linden Postcard Show, St Kilda Centre Life 21 June, 2013 History, Musee d’Aquitaine, Australia’s International Sydney, fnalist for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne Bordeaux, France Indigenous Festival, Woodford Nowell, Liz.
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