Reko Rennie

Learning resource

Resistance and Refusal

Reko Rennie
Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi peoples
born 1974 Melbourne, Victoria
lives and works Melbourne, Victoria

Speak your mind

Talking points or provocations to unpack the works through discussion and/or contemplation:

• What changes has Reko Rennie made to the Rolls-Royce in his work OA_RR 2016? Why use a car?
• Are there symbols that you can see? Explore their meaning.
• Does the use of the colour gold mean something important?

Senior options

• In Rennie’s work, Royal Flag 2013, who do you think is intended to wear the crown?
• How does Rennie reflect on the changes in Australia since the 1967 Referendum by referencing an ancestor’s history?
• Think about the title of the work OA_RR and discuss what this could mean.

Get to work

Creative making suggestions that highlight key concepts:

• Create a tool that can mark the land with a symbol representing you. Document the process.

Think it through

Ideas to aid you in the creation of works:

• Think of different ways to use your symbol.
• Is your symbol something that has been important to you for years? Or even handed both through generations? Perhaps you have only just developed it?
• Will your tool damage the land? Do you want it to?
• Discover the Indigenous names in your local area for everyday items such as stone, plants, seed, fruit, hill, valley, river, cave etc. 

Senior options

• How is the connection between Rennie and his grandmother important to the creation of his artwork?
• Research a place of cultural significance to the Indigenous people of your region. Find out more about cultural practices that would have taken place before colonial interventions. Talk about the ways your community could honour the legacy of the traditional custodians with a site-specific installation.

Places to go

Links for more information about the artist:

• Artist website
• SBS On Demand
• City of Sydney 
• ABC radio
• National Gallery of Victoria
• Broadstreet Melbourne
• Australian Council for the Arts
• Artlink
• The Design Files
• Art Gallery of New South Wales

Talk the talk

Glossary of words in the education resource and artist statement:

• pastoralists: a sheep or cattle farmer
• rations: allow each person to have only a fixed amount of (a commodity)
• missions: reserves of land to which Aboriginal people were forcibly relocated
• marque: a make of car, as distinct from a specific model
• camouflage: concealment by means of disguise

 

Search for works by this artist in the national collection.