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Big Name No Blankets
Holly Story, Olga Cironis, Thomas Hoareau, Louise Snooks and David Turley are joined by Kay Lawrence (SA) and Fiona Foley (QLD). Artists who work with blankets and cases exhibit together in an exploration of the colonial and the domestic. Holly Story, Olga Cironis, Thomas Hoareau, Louise Snooks and David Turley (all WA) are joined by Kay Lawrence (SA) and Fiona Foley (QLD).
The title refers to the 1984 debut album by Indigenous musicians, the Warumpi Band. It was the first album produced by an Aboriginal band that charted in mainstream white Australian culture. The term seems to question the status of someone who is supposedly well known and respected but has a lack of material goods, measured here in blankets. It is open to interpretation.
Blankets and suitcases are familiar and practical staples of human existence, which can be seen as basic survival items that have remained pretty well unchanged over many years. They certainly have a domestic application yet due to various associations, they can be seen as politically charged.
Migration and refuge, homelessness, prison, colonisation, baggage, trade and loss can be seen in opposition to shelter, comfort and a sense of belonging or home.
Blankets as currency were an important part of economic exchange between indigenous peoples and white settlers all over the world. Stories of blankets infected with smallpox and given as gifts to Native Americans as part of a deliberate campaign to gain control of their land have never been proved or disproved. Blankets are still important commodities in remote indigenous communities, especially at funeral time. They are harder to obtain and easily destroyed in the harsh conditions of community life.
