Artist:

Blak Douglas

This suite of works pays homage to the disenfranchising of my Aboriginal tribal origins and the homogenising of the descendants who were/are expected to assimilate and coexist today, within the youngest colony on the planet.

Domestic Violets features a triptych painted in violet hues, with a portrait of my father’s mother, Clorine Morthem (Dhungatti), at the centre. Typically leading the harsh life of a ‘half-caste’, she was stolen at 12 and institutionalised as a Ward of the State at Cootamundra Girls Home. She appears flanked by stylised domestic cleaning products, purely as a pun. The colour violet to me best represents the colour of cultural change and ironically ventures close to the official colour of the Catholic Church.

Lucky Country consists of large printed text pieces. Inserted into the heavy font are historic images featuring pictorial examples of dispossession in process; the very dark history that Australia has consistently attempted to sweep under the mat. Each image is tidily fitted into a classic colloquial expression, in the distinct Aussie vernacular referencing quintessential comfort and/or pleasure of being.

Really Bin is the product of a collaboration between myself and the masterful Will Coles, ubiquitous street artist. The initial concept began with producing one bin, the SORRY Bin, carefully moulded in resin with added iron dust, giving the effect of solid metal. The suite of bins are a satirical homage to the diarised days of national patronage, each featuring a federal public holiday embossed on the front panel.

Photo: Angela D’Elia

Blak Douglas (Dhungatti/German/Irish/Scottish peoples)
LOL 2016
Purchased 2017 in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum

Blak Douglas (Dhungatti/German/Irish/Scottish peoples)
Really Bin 2012
Gift of the artist 2017. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Search for works by this artist in the national collection.

Blak Douglas (Dhungatti/German/Irish/Scottish peoples)