Under strict and oppressive social Darwinist policies from colonial contact to the mid-20th century, countless Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls across Australia were forced into unpaid domestic servitude within non-Indigenous households. ‘Sovereign sisters: domestic work’ traces these stories through historical and contemporary works, including textiles, painting, sculpture, video and photography of First Nations artists and from First Nations perspectives, revealing the complexity of domestic service as lived experience and shedding light on the collective narratives that have been widely ignored by non-Indigenous Australia.
Yhonnie Scarce, Florey and Fanny, 2011, cotton aprons, hand-blown glass 150 x 150cm (irreg). Installation view, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne. City of Yarra Council collection, Melbourne. Photograph: Andrew Curtis. © Yhonnie Scarce, 2021
Featuring Paola Balla, Destiny Deacon, Julie Dowling, D Harding, Natalie Harkin, Leah King-Smith, Tracey Moffatt, Clinton Naina, r e a, Yhonnie Scarce, Ellen Trevorrow, and Unbound Collective.
r e a, Gamilaraay/Wailwan/Biripi peoples, New South Wales, born Coonabarabran, New South Wales 1962, Domestik from the series ‘Look Who’s Calling The Kettle Black’, 1992, digital dye sublimation print, 19 × 25cm. Collection of the artist. © the artist. Courtesy the artist and Flinders University Museum of Art, South Australia
Flinders University Museum of Art
11 October 2021 to 8 April 2022
South Australia
