Title: Courting Blakness: Recalibrating Knowledge in the Sandstone University
Abstract: [S]ince point of invasion in 1788 ... 'concept of Aboriginality' and 'what an Aboriginal is' has been an ongoing construction of colonisers, an imposed definition ... We as Blackfellas are still expected by many to remain static as Aboriginal people. (Heiss, 5;81) The Great Court of The University of Queensland at St Lucia is an everyday agora for students, staff and visitors, and a fondly-appreciated public space. Built and branded to underscore commitment to development of Queensland's tertiary educational system, to secure University's entry onto list of elite universities dotted across Australia, and to create an iconic symbol of UQ's presence, (1) (Moore, 19) Great Court is lovely on a breezy, late spring afternoon, but it is by means a neutral space/territory for everyone: St Lucia campus is built upon Jagera and Turrbal country. The Great Court also houses sculptures, friezes and grotesques carved in sandstone along its walls, depicting scenes of industry and heroic topics in Queensland history ranging from Cook's landing on Possession Island in 1770 to discovery of gold at Mount Morgan in 1882. Over Arts and Law school entrances are thirty panels recording Aboriginal (Moore, 30) and resonating with writer Anita Heiss' sentiment that stasis, or generic non-individuation allows settler culture to depict First People as willing players in fantasies of linear historical movement toward a greater good for all. Literally set in stone, panels' tableaux of tooth extraction ceremonies and other aspects of pre-colonial Aboriginal life evoke no understanding whatsoever of personal nature Aboriginal identity has for individuals, [and] way that it connects us to our communities (Heiss, 80). As works of art, panels are proof that setting historical truths in stone matter how well-intentioned at time of their conception and rendering, may not in long run serve to prove their makers' convictions, but rather to underscore their misconceptions. As architecture, Great Court and surrounding buildings are a veritable hodgepodge of cultural appropriation that may not be apparent to all unless consciously analyzed. Meant to impose order, balance and a European historicity, Forgan Smith Building is a good example of a large and well-executed inter-war stripped classical style ... a striking example of 1930s art deco ... with a hint of grand fascist-style architecture, with exaggerated entrances intended to overwhelm individual ... The style of Main building's exterior and colonnaded passageways is described as Romanesque-Byzantine revival with a pseudo-Norman tower, which indicates its hybrid nature.(Moore, 4-6) Courting Blakness: Recalibrating Knowledge in Sandstone University situated artworks within Court's manicured lawns and hallowed passageways. As curated by Fiona Foley, an adjunct professor jointly in School of Political Science and International Studies and School of English, Media Studies and Art History (Foley is an internationally recognized contemporary Indigenous artist), (2) installation of works of eight contemporary Aboriginal artists impacted forcefully where, normally, status quo activities would include simply studying, or gathering to relax and chat. Courting Blakness nullified Great Court's temporal pastiche, changing its architectural ode to white hegemony into a venue for discussion of issues of race, gender and cultural repression, impacting on viewer within a contested space in a way that sanctioned clarity of Queensland Gallery of Modem Art or any other art gallery could not have achieved. The concurrent two-day symposium focused discussion panels on each artwork to consider in depth the role of art in contributing to definitions of and debates surrounding Indigenous knowledge, and to generate exchange between different cultural values and associated ways of seeing, knowing and being in world (Symposium Program Introduction). …
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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