Sandra Hill

Learning resource

Asserting Presence

Sandra Hill
Minang/Wardandi/Ballardong/Nyoongar peoples
born 1951 Perth, Western Australia
lives and works Balingup, Western Australia 

Speak your mind

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

  • What is the purpose of a flag? How is a flag important to a nation’s sense of identity?
  • Do you feel as though the Australian flag represents you and your experience of being Australian?
  • Discuss the differences between immigrants and Indigenous people in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s.

Senior options

  • How can an artist use their work to explore their past and inform the present? How does Sandra Hill achieve this?
  • Explain the impact the Stolen Generations had on Hill’s sense of belonging.

Get to work

Creative making suggestions that highlight key concepts:

  • Create a work by overlaying the imagery of two histories to encourage an audience to consider differences in power and possession.

Think it through

Ideas to aid you in the creation of works:

  • Discover the Indigenous names in your local area for everyday items such as stone, plants, seed, fruit, hill, valley, river, cave etc. 
  • Could these words be added to your work? Would it change its meaning?
  • Will you use two images of history of the same people or place in different times, or two images from the same time from different perspectives?

Senior options

  • 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:

Talk the talk

Glossary of words in the education resource and artist statement:

  • Stolen Generations: Aboriginal children removed from their families and placed in institutions or fostered by white families between 1910 and 1970
  • legislation: the act of making or enacting laws
  • comprehensive: of large scope; covering or involving much; inclusive
  • segregation: the institutional separation of an ethnic, racial, religious, or other minority group from the dominant majority
  • colonisation: to form a colony, or settle in a new land bringing in a new ruling power
  • priority: something given special attention; the right to precede others in order, rank, privilege, etc; precedence

 

Search for works by this artist in the national collection.