You Wreck Me #12
Date2020
Object number00055886
NameCollage
Mediumprinted photographs on archival paper
DimensionsOverall: 280 × 380 mm
Copyright© Tony Albert
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection
DescriptionArtwork made by artist Tony Albert titled 'You Wreck Me #12'.
Work features cut out colour photograph of the artist on a wrecking ball swinging near a postcard of the Captain Cook statue in Whitby, England.HistoryTony Albert makes work across various media platforms, speaking to ongoing, current and future discussion surrounding history and how it is recorded.
Albert's work explores contemporary legacies of colonialism in ways which prompt audiences to contemplate elements of the human condition. Using imagery and source material from across the globe, Albert draws on both personal and collective histories to explore the ways in which optimism might be utilised to overcome adversity. His practice is concerned with identity and the ascribing of social labels; unpacking what it means to judge and be judged in the absence of recognition or understanding.
Albert’s farcical interpretation asks the viewer to reflect not only on who is written into history, but who is written out and why. The revolutionary spirit captured in the 'You Wreck Me' series asserts that the continued memorialisation of one figure be replaced by a multitude of voices that have shaped Australian history. Albert’s depiction is not so much a call to action, but rather the act of a trickster, imploring us to rethink national narratives through humour. In the artist's words: ‘if you can’t laugh with me, at least have a laugh at me’.
His works are very accessible, mining popular cultural and historical icons and imagery, and using humour to critique national narratives, Indigenous historiography, public history and material culture. The video features Albert painted for ceremony as a trickster, swinging and singing in parody of Miley Cyrus’s hit wrecking ball song, in the process deconstructing foundation narratives of ENDEAVOUR at Kamay and demolishing monuments to Captain Cook.
SignificanceTony Albert's series of works,'You Wreck Me', were created to respond to the Cook 250th anniversary in early 2020. Its resonance, humour and commentary has been acutely sharpened as the months enfolded, especially with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the debate around memorialisation.
