April 29, 2020.
This day in history marks the 250th anniversary since Captain James Cook’s first landfall at Kamay Botany Bay and the HMB Endeavour’s charting of the east coast of Australia.
Kamilaroi artist, Reko Rennie has created a present-day memorial in recognition of the frontier wars, the massacres and the survival of the original sovereigns of this country – the Aboriginal people of Australia. ‘REMEMBER ME’ – one of Rennie’s most stripped-back, minimal installations to date – is a major site-specific, illuminated text work spanning some 25 meters in length and 5 meters tall at the entrance of Carriageworks. Trough the work Rennie asks us to consider the personal impact of our past and how history is made today.
Reko Rennie, REMEMBER ME, 2020, Carriageworks. Photograph: Zan Wimberley
Carriageworks Director and CEO Blair French said, ‘Carriageworks is committed to working closely with artists to develop and present ambitious work that engages audiences with contemporary ideas and issues. We are proud to commission this major site-specific artwork that both illuminates the history and architecture of this site and demonstrates Carriageworks’ commitment to social and cultural diversity. We celebrate the continuation of Aboriginal presence and place through ‘REMEMBER ME’ at the entrance to Carriageworks, a constant reminder of the continuing impact of invasion. As we mark this anniversary today, we are reminded of the importance of art and artists in highlighting those histories we must not forget, whilst pointing forward to better, more inclusive futures.’
For almost two decades, Rennie has made art that references his identity as a Kamilaroi man living and working in an urban environment. Working broadly across painting, sculpture, video and installation and with a practice firmly grounded in the origins of street art and graffiti, Rennie’s signature style is one of high-key colour and complex composition. His finely tuned visual language adapts the shapes and symbols of his Kamilaroi culture with Australian colonial history, interwoven with text and camouflage patterning.
Rennie said, ‘On April 29, I choose not to celebrate the arrival of colonial invaders and the dispossession of our land. Instead, I want to acknowledge the original inhabitants whose lives were changed forever on this day, as well as affirm our survival, and reiterate that sovereignty was never ceded.’
‘REMEMBER ME’ remains on display throughout 2020.
Video of the work can be accessed via Carriageworks Journal
