Artist:
Reko Rennie
I’ve heard and seen stories of some Australian pastoralists back in the early 1900s owning old Rolls-Royce or Bentley vehicles, dressing up on a Sunday and then driving to church. During this time, there were many Aboriginal women, men and children enslaved on these properties working for nothing but rations, abused and mistreated.
It made me think of my grandmother, Julia, and how she was also enslaved on pastoral stations and missions due to former government policies.
I decided I would buy a Rolls-Royce in similar vintage myself. The marque of the vehicle is a symbol of wealth, privilege and royalty. I have hand-painted the Rolls, with a geometric camouflage, referencing the traditional diamond shape of the Kamilaroi and using a contemporary pattern of camouflage to promote visibility of identity. The video work is about a road trip, where I return to Kamilaroi land and make an emotional journey back to Country for my grandmother and myself, in a reclaimed (Reko Rennie) Rolls-Royce.
Referencing my own urban upbringing, I take the car on Kamilaroi earth and thrash the Rolls-Royce on Country, creating donuts on the land, also in reference to traditional Kamilaroi sand engravings.
Then I return to my other home.
Photo: City of Melbourne/Rodney Dekker
Reko Rennie
(Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi people)
OA_RR 2016
Courtesy of the artist and Blackartprojects
Reko Rennie
(Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi people)
Royal Flag 2013
Purchased 2013
Search for works by this artist in the national collection.
