Return to Sender

The Return to Sender exhibition was held at The University of Queensland Art Museum, located on The University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus. This exhibition of contemporary art showcased photo media pieces that were created in response to the political and cultural environment of the Joh-Bjelke Petersen era during the late 1970s and early 1980s (Return to Sender 2012). Return to Sender displayed the following artists who were originally based in Queensland: Barbara Campbell, Jeff Gibson, John Gillies (with The Sydney Front), Ross Harley, Rosemary Laing, Lindy Lee, Fiona MacDonald, Tracey Moffat, Robyn Stacey, Mark Titmarsh and Gary Warner. A key point of interest established by The University of Queensland Art Museum curator Michele Helmrich was that although each of the abovementioned artists departed from Queensland during the Joh-Bjelke Petersen era, they continued to focus on ideas that were circulating in Australian art during this period (Return to Sender 2012). The artworks that will be discussed throughout this review are as follows: Something More # 9 (1989) by Tracey Moffatt, Universally Respected No. 4 (1993) by Fiona MacDonald, and Ice (1989) by Robyn Stacey.

Tracey Moffat’s Something More Series (1989) consisted of nine cibachrome images; six of which were direct positive colour photographs, and three were gelatine silver photographs. Something More # 9 (1989) was the only image from this series featured at the Return to Sender exhibition. This image comprised of a wall with an artificial road painted onto it, juxtaposed with the actual road on the ground. A person’s body is splayed across the visibly rough bitumen surface. It may be assumed that the person is female as she is wearing typically feminine garments; such as high-heeled shoes, stockings and a dress. Her stockings have been ripped, her dress is hiked up, and her shoes have fallen off her feet – altogether depicting a person in a shambles. As the woman is laying face-down it is difficult to determine whether she is dead or merely asleep. Nonetheless, her dishevelled attire and the placement of her body on the road create a sense of distress. The viewer may come to the conclusion that something terrible must have occurred to this woman; or they may interpret that this image is a visualisation of the final chapter of a narrative about someone running away from something for such a long period of time. A thought-provoking aspect of Something More # 9 (1989) is Tracey Moffat’s inclusion of the sign labelled ‘Brisbane 300 miles’, and the elusive black suitcase in the corner next to the woman’s hand. The sign is pointing towards the artificial road; as if to suggest that the woman has been trying to follow a road that doesn’t even exist. The complete Something More Series (1989) displays clearly tableau images which share a common narrative, but in which multiple stories are being expressed (Newton 2002). Tracey Moffatt has deliberately presented her narratives to encourage the viewer to have multiple readings of this series, which are beyond the specific politics of Australian identity (Newton 2002). Gael Newton, the Senior Curator of Australian and International Photography at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, highlighted that the images in the Something More Series (1989) series were, “turned to an agenda in which dress and undress, language and labels are paramount issues in an identity dependent on inserting the unfamiliar dark face in a white scene” (Newton 2002).

Fiona MacDonald’s Universally Respected and Mob (1993) series consisted of fifteen woven sepia photographs. There were several images on display at the Return to Sender exhibition from this collection; however Universally Respected No. 4 (1993) will be the only piece that will be analysed throughout this review. A photograph of George Fairbairn, a pastoralist involved in the Shearers' Strike, emerges from the interwoven images of an Indigenous couple. Both photographs were taken in Clermont circa 1880. The frame was constructed from hand carved local coastal quondong, finished with black Japan. Universally Respected No. 4 (1993) may be an enquiry into the impact of neo-colonialist acts on our shared identity (Heathwood 2010). Fiona MacDonald may have decided to investigate this enquiry due to insight gained from her great-grandmother’s experience as a domestic servant in Mackay where she observed the arrival of South Sea Island people who were indentured to work at the surrounding sugar plantations (Heathwood 2010). It could be argued that Universally Respected and Mob (1993) is an appropriate title for this series as it is an amalgamation of photographic portraits of respected members of the Rockhampton Club, with portraits of non-members (Heathwood 2010). The image of the Indigenous couple in Universally Respected No. 4 (1993) is an example of people who were regarded as non-members of the Rockhampton Club. Tracey Heathwood, Artist and Art Worker, summarised that the Universally Respected and Mob (1993) series provided an opportunity for, “The poor, dispossessed and displaced (to) take their place alongside ‘notables’… injustices and conflicts emerge from the latticework of historic portraits and objects” (Heathwood 2010).

Flame (1989) and Ice (1989) were selected from Robyn Stacey’s Redline 7000 (1989) series to be exhibited at Return to Sender.  Both images are cibachrome photographs on plexiglass. Ice (1989) will be the only piece from this series that will be analysed throughout this review, as it is arguably the most ambiguous out of the two images. Ice (1989) is comprised of a woman’s face positioned in front of a city landscape. The woman’s face is disproportionately larger than the landscape. Another image appears to be layered across background. This layering creates an effect of someone viewing the city from a distance; the sense of longing on the woman’s face suggests that there may be something preventing her from being able to go to the city. Possibly, the symbolic imagery displayed in Ice (1989) was in response to the unjust treatment of people, particularly young adults and university students, who protested during the height of the repressive Joh-Bjelke Petersen government (Kanowski 2012). As Robyn Stacey was one of many young adults who ended up in the Brisbane watch house as a result of protesting, it could be contended that Ice (1989) is a depiction of a person behind prison bars in both a literal and figurative sense (Kanowski 2012). The literal reading of this piece may be directly linked to Robyn Stacey’s life experiences, and the figurative interpretation may be associated with the oppressive attitude towards creative or questioning minds during the Joh-Bjelke Petersen era (Kanowski 2012). Conclusively, The University of Queensland Art Museum curator Michele Helmrich argued that both Flame (1989) and Ice (1989) represent, “a sense of darkness, and anticipation of some dire consequence, of things running out of control, of even maybe a sense of surveillance perhaps” (Kanowski 2012).

References

Heathwood, T 2010, Local Studies: Fiona MacDonald, viewed 18 August 2012, <http://www.artlink.com.au/articles/3421/local-studies-fiona-macdonald/>.

Kanowski, S 2012, viewed 18 August 2012, <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/weekendarts/michele-helmich/4128478>.

Newton, G 2002, Something More series 1989, viewed 18 August 2012, <http://cs.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=148563>.

Return to Sender 2012, viewed 18 August 2012,                  <http://www.artmuseum.uq.edu.au/return-to-sender >.