Taking Back Language showcases a selection of works by acclaimed Aboriginal artists who engage with text to reclaim language. Using different mediums, artists in this exhibition examine the ways that words can be used to reveal, challenge and subvert power structures.
In this exhibition, artists use various methods and devices to address the influence of language. Through humour, defiance or poetry, artists might poke holes in colonial representations or push back on the limited space allotted to them. While some artists turn colonial erasure back on itself, others celebrate the reclamation of language.
Often, language has been used as a tool to stereotype people, to quash dissent, or to skew representations of people and place. Through the exploration of speech and language this exhibition celebrates the perseverance of culture. Taking Back Language opens up the diverse ways in which artists are reclaiming power through word and art.
Artists: Uncle Brian McKinnon, Fiona Foley, Jazz Money, Jenna Lee, Kait James, Karla Dickens, Mia Boe and Peter Waples-Crowe.
Curated by Sarah Werkmeister and Katie Ryan.
Image: Kait James, Life’s pretty shitty without a Treaty (detail), 2020. Image courtesy the artist.
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