Colonising Species
Artist
Kevin Gilbert
(1933-1993)
Date1989
Object number00017987
NameScreenprint
MediumPrint on heavy weight paper.
DimensionsImage: 309 × 510 mm
Sheet: 570 × 767 mm
Overall: 570 × 767 mm, 0.1 kg
Display dimensions: 565 × 765 mm
Sheet: 570 × 767 mm
Overall: 570 × 767 mm, 0.1 kg
Display dimensions: 565 × 765 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA print by Kevin Gilbert titled 'Colonising Species' depicting a white European swan slaying a black Indigenous swan against a background of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag. Various interpretations of Mimi spirits are featured in the background above the swans.
Swans are often used as a symbol of British nobility.
Signed 'K. Gilbert 89' lower left corner. Beneath the image is the print number 8/50.
HistoryIn the widespread celebrations in 1988 acknowledging 200 years of British settlement in Australia, the Indigenous population fought hard to have their voice heard. Artists such as Kevin Gilbert became involved in using the medium to highlight ongoing social, political, health and human rights issues facing their people.
Gilbert was a vocal activist and used his skills as a writer and artist to continue to draw attention to the injustices still existing in Australian society. The bicentenary celebrations of 1988 saw the nation reflect back on the last 200 years and many indigenous artists saw it as an opportunity to recognise the Aboriginal Nations and Peoples' sovereign rights, ownership of Australia and for the Commonwealth Government of Australia to treaty with Aboriginal sovereign nations through the mechanisms of international law.
Gilbert was chair of the 'Treaty '88' campaign that advocated for a treaty enshrining Aboriginal rights and sovereignty. He was awarded the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Human Rights Award for Literature for editing the Aboriginal poetry anthology 'Inside Black Australia'. True to his beliefs, Gilbert returned the medal to the then Governor General, Sir Ninian Stephens, citing the ongoing injustice and suffering of his people.SignificanceIn the lead-up to Australia's bicentenary celebrations, the continual injustices suffered by Aboriginal people were also raised in the political arena. Kevin Gilbert was a strong advocate for 'Treaty 88', a campaign for a treaty enshrining Aboriginal rights and sovereignty in Australia. This print is part of a large body of Gilbert's political work that included plays, books and protests.
