Gordon Bennett The Coming Of The Light Analysis

“Art can use the power of visual image to challenge and even change popular opinions about important and universal issues. Art can be a very influential way to give a strong, direct comments and criticisms on things that have happened in society and culture.” (Rehab-Mol J, 1998, p6) Indigenous art is mostly about connecting to their land and their religious belief; however, art has different forms, especially the Indigenous contemporary art as it uses ‘modern materials in a mixed cultural context’. (Aboriginal Art Online, 2000)

Gordon Bennett and Tony Albert are both urban-based artists who explore their Indigenous backgrounds and the issues that are centered on their culture. Gordon Bennett’s issue for society is the denial of Indigenous

Australian by people in the past that rejected their culture. Tony Albert explores the issue of cultural ignorance towards Indigenous communities. Both artists express their struggles of being an Indigenous Australian through their artworks.

Gordon Bennett, a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art expresses his discomfort through his artworks as a struggle of denial and repression of Aboriginal heritage. He said, “…my work was largely about ideas rather than emotional content emanating from some stereotype of a ‘tortured’ soul.” (Molan, 2011) Bennett’s art practice varies from painting, printmaking and photography to performance, video and installation. His work has been influenced art styles on social history textbooks, western art history as well as Indigenous art. According to Bennett, he began to feel that the cultural and social structures surrounding ‘representation and identity were ironically aiming at him’. (Andrew P, 2011)

Bennett’s painting, The coming of the light, made in 1987, reflects on colonialism by exploring the issues of race and identity.

The name of the artwork is a term used by ‘Torres Strait Islanders to describe the arrival of the missionaries who brought Christianity to the Islanders in 1871, which means that ‘coming of the light’ is accepting goodness and staying away from the dark’. (Molan, 2011) The artwork shows several jack-in-the-boxes, surrounded by symbols such as ‘grid-like buildings’. It also shows a hand holding a torch in one hand and the other onto the Aboriginal figure in front of several white figure

jack-in-the-boxes.

An Aboriginal figure jack-in-the-box shows that he is being violently dragged upwards as a representation of opposing his culture as an Indigenous person and is the only coloured figure, making him an outcast to society.

The buildings symbolise a ‘civilised society’. (Molan, 2011) However, it is the opposite of civilised as the Indigenous figure shows a confronting image of being hanged while the other figures witness this action and staring at this figure curiously, as he is different from them. The distance between the white figure jack-in-the-boxes is far away from the Indigenous figure, as they are near the buildings – creating a cultural distance towards the Indigenous figure. On one hand, it is holding a torch is a symbol of hope but on the other shows a vicious and cruel mistreatment to Indigenous Australians.

Unlike Gordon Bennett, who grew up struggling from his Aboriginal heritage, Tony Albert, a founding member of Queensland's Indigenous art collective proppaNOW explores political, social and cultural issues that are relevant to Indigenous Australian in today’s society. Albert’s artistic practice has a range of media and applications producing 2D wall art, sculpture and installation based works. According to Albert, he began to see the ‘problematic representations of his identity’ (Art Monthly Australia, 2015, p.55) after discovering the work of contemporary Aboriginal artists Tracey Moffat and Gordon

Bennett.

Albert’s work, made in 2008 is an acrylic spray paint stenciled on found vintage velvet paintings. It is provoked by what Albert states as ‘stereotypical representation of Indigenous Australians in mainstream culture’. (Murdoch University, 2008) In each painting, both modern political and social texts are stenciled over the images as they are being expressed in a negative or stereotypical aspect to the audience. According to Murdoch University (2008), the slogans are from pop songs, political speeches and life stories, which are simple expressions but give a strong message behind their culture as an Indigenous person. The backgrounds, the facial features of the Indigenous Australian show that they look strong, however, it has been juxtaposed with confrontational/humorous comments. One of the paintings ‘i am a young austrALIEN I’m growing everyday,’ shows an insight of what society are today and the hostility of being Indigenous Australian has affected their identity and culture, leading to cultural ignorance. Another painting, ‘I am you are we are, am I are you are we’ questions the audience about being seen as an equal person and getting past their cultural differences.

Both Bennett and Albert’s artworks express social and cultural changes of race and identity. Gordon Bennett has influenced Tony Albert with his art studies because he ‘set a precedent for political art in Australia.’ (Fairfax Media, 2014) They both gather materials from their personal and collective histories and take the exploration of language as the prime subject of their artwork. However, Bennett’s work is layered and complex and challenges the audience opinions to understand the subjects he explores while Albert engages diverse audience to draw upon his satirical and political opinion. Bennett indicates that postmodernism has affected his development of his art practice. According to Albert’s art practices, he had attempted to enact confrontationally and unapologetically, but with a little bit of humour and hope behind it. Overall, the messages both artists express to the audience about their Aboriginal heritage and the representations of Indigenous Australian face in today’s society is cultural ignorance and racial oppression.