Exhibition at CCAS Gorman House

The Triangle is an exhibition at Canberra Contemporary Artspace featuring local artists who have engaged with political art in Canberra. The exhibition includes Alison Alder, Alex Asch, Robert Boynes, Ham Darroach, Julian Laffan, Raquel Ormella, Toni Robertson and Bernie Slater and is curated by Alexander Boynes, many of these artists are Alumni or associated with ANU School of Art.

A particular favorite of the exhibition has been John Reid's work in progress Untitled (Collage of Australian banknotes) where he is cutting up his own money to produce a collage that raises awareness of appalling human rights breaches. John writes of the piece:

The subject of this artwork is political or enforced disappearances. The work was initiated in 1982 in response to Amnesty International’s ‘Disappearance Campaign’ triggered by the criminal political climate in Central and South America; and the Australian government’s relationship with Indonesia and policy on East Timor.

An enforced disappearance is the abduction of a citizen and the subsequent secret detention, torture, murder and disposal of their body by agents of the State. The victim effectively vanishes. Usually, enforced disappearances are inflicted by governments to suppress popular opposition to repressive economic policies maintained through military aid from foreign governments who are accomplices in the economic exploitation so as to support affluent living standards in their own countries.

The intent of the artwork is to appeal for ethical vigilance against Australian government foreign policies that are fuelled by greed. The conceptual relationship between the artwork’s focus on economic exploitation and its medium of money serves to visually dramatise the intent; and to attract scrutiny of it by the State and subsequently the media. From 1984 to 1987, the artwork was legally contested which enhanced the impact of the work.

Untitled is a process artwork. Its exhibition is performative and, in addition to the presentation of the collage, includes the creative procedures of its production in the gallery space. There is no point in time when the work might be considered complete. Authorship is trans-generational. Custodial responsibility for the artwork and permission to work/rework its surface passes from one artist to another.

John Reid - 11 January 2013