Aboriginal people across the country have voiced their fury and hurt in response to an art performance calling for their blood to soak the British flag — but the art festival's creative director says it will go ahead, despite admitting he is personally "rattled" by the response.
Key points:
- The art festival put a call out for blood donations from "First Nations peoples"
- The blood was to be used to soak a British flag, as an artistic metaphor
- The plan has been condemned by many in the Indigenous community
Spanish artist Santiago Sierra's piece, called Union Flag, was announced on the weekend as one of the major acts for the Museum of Old and New Art's (MONA) annual Hobart festival, Dark Mofo, to take place in June.
Festival organisers invited expressions of interest for First Nations people who'd been colonised by the British Empire to donate their blood to the cause.
The project received some support from local Tasmanian Aboriginal groups, but prompted outrage among other Indigenous people across the country, including artists, musicians and academics.
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)Hundreds of people tweeted in opposition to the art under the hashtag #whitemofo.
Rappers Tasman Keith and Briggs commented on MONA's Instagram post, with the latter saying "we already gave enough blood".
Singer Kira Puru and cook Julia Busuttil Nishimura have also expressed disapproval, and Noongar writer and academic Cass Lynch wrote extensively about the issue.
"Simply stating or depicting that the beginnings of the Australian colony were brutal and bloody for Indigenous people is a passive act," Ms Lynch wrote in the Overland Journal.
Loading"The concept on its own isn't active as an agent of truth-telling, it doesn't contain an Indigenous voice or testimony, it has no nuance. On its own, it leans into the glorification of the gore and violence of colonisation".
This week, Dark Mofo festival curator Leigh Carmichael on social media defended Santiago's work and the Union Flag piece, saying in a statement they'd been "overwhelmed with responses."
Loading"Self-expression is a fundamental human right, and we support artists to make and present work regardless of their nationality or cultural background," he said.
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'We will push on': Dark Mofo director
Today, Carmichael told ABC Radio Hobart it was up to the community to decide if they've gone too far.
"At this stage we will push on," he said.
"Provided we can logistically make this work happen, we will."
Carmichael, who's worked on Dark Mofo for many years said he was "a little rattled" by the criticism, but knew they'd put themselves forward by commissioning such a divisive project.
"I'm working through it, like everyone else."
Carmichael said he had personally been "rattled" by the force of response to the project.
LoadingCarmichael said his team knew the work would be difficult and "may be tougher than we expected it to be".
"Yes, he's a Spanish artist and I believe as an outsider he brings a different perspective, a potentially objective perspective,"
Carmichael said he expected more outrage from conservative people about the sanctity of the flag.
MONA employees voice opposition
But while the festival has doubled-down, one of MONA's curators, Emma Pike, used Instagram to detail her opposition, saying she didn't support "Australia's Indigenous people spilling one more drop of their blood … especially in the name of art and especially for the benefit of a European artist".
"I do not believe reenacting acts of colonialism is the same as critiquing it," Ms Pike said.
She said Dark Mofo and the Museum's curatorial teams operate completely separately and stressed she didn't have a direct role in the project.
"As you were, we were blind sided by the announcement of this project last week," she wrote.
LoadingAnother of MONA's curators, Pippa Mott, also posted her criticism on Instagram, saying Santiago Sierra's 'Union Flag' work was "an abomination that stands to exploit and re-traumatise First Nations people".
"This is not a 'colonial critique'. This is not cutting edge. This is bad art and an abuse of the platform that Dark Mofo could and should be using to do meaningful, challenging and illuminating work," she wrote.
Artist accused of 'trauma-mining'
Trawlwulwuy artist and Aboriginal Heritage Officer Fiona Hamilton has exhibited her work as part of Dark Mofo in the past and acted as a consultant.
She said First Nations voices must be central to any attempt at truth-telling.
"This artists does not want our voices, this artist wants our blood and I take that as a silencing act," she said.
"I'm a little tired of non-Aboriginal artists fetishising First Nation's people and our stories … our lives are not some kind of bain-marie for artists and others to trauma-mine what they might like to use out of our lived experience.
"Santiago has apparently stated he's very anti-colonialism and that's all very well and good, but you don't get to state things like that and then behave in performatively colonial ways in how you make your art," she said.
Ms Hamilton said she understands the desire to have a conversation about colonialism, but said both MONA and Dark Mofo "have a long way to go to establish trust with First Nations people, and with that trust comes the ability to have these hard conversations".
"I wish they would provide better platforms for First Nations artists and creatives to be able to say what we need to say about that experience because it's our experience.
Santiago's work has long drawn criticism.
His previous works include tattooing a 160cm line across the backs of four heroin-addicted sex workers, and pumping gallons of carbon monoxide into a former synagogue in Germany and inviting people to walk through it with a gas mask on.
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2021-03-23 00:16:30Z
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