Dem Cheeky Bulls

Hayley Millar-Baker

Opening 01.03.17 6-8pm
Artist Talks 23.03.17 6-7pm

Dem Cheeky Bulls portrays the power that spoken and written word can hold over a person in terms of the relationship between word and self-portrayal. Through bringing together eight portraits with eight Aboriginal Australians alongside ‘everyday racial’ comments that have been received in regards to their culture, ancestry, and life.

The European invasion of Australia has had its disastrous effects on families and mobs nation-wide, and in particular urban-Aboriginals have been set back and suffered greatly in terms of reconnecting to culture and defending their identity as Aboriginals. Aboriginality is often highly judged by ‘others’ due to an existing preconceived idea of what a proper ‘Aboriginal’ person should look like and how they behave. Should the Aboriginal not fit the preconceived profiling, then (unintentional and/or intentional) denial and racial criticism usually comes into play.

Focusing on creating a dialogue in relation to the psychological damage caused by ‘everyday racism’, Dem Cheeky Bulls expresses the experience of unintentional or intentional everyday interactions with people, services, or systems that leave an Aboriginal Australian person feeling they have been judged or categorised in a deniable way.

Utilising photography and digital collage as my medium of choice, I use digital technologies to open a gateway to create and push new narratives concerning themes of displacement, alienation, suppression and oppression, connection to culture and land, identity, racism and social confinement.