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The Record Keepers

Artist Karen Casey (1956)

Printer Australian Print Workshop Inc (Australian)

Date2006

Object number00045077

NamePhotolithograph

MediumPaper (Velin Arches 250gsm), ink

DimensionsOverall: 560 x 760 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Terms

DescriptionThis black photo-lithograph features layers of text along with cartographic and landscape components. Casey's work is reminiscent of Australian landscapes and the maps of the early Dutch explorers. The white forms in the image are based on plaster impressions of the space inside a handshake - casts of the hands of indigenous and non-indigenous people coming together and shaking hands for reconciliation. Artist's statement: 'From the ancient practice of hand-stenciling to the elaborate science of cartography, human beings possess an innate desire to record and chart their arrivals and journeys through life. Drawing from Abel Tasman's 1642 expedition journal and on the cave art signatures of my Tasmanian forebears, this work responds to both the spirit of exploration and discovery, and to the enduring sense of connection one has with one's country and place of origin. Like the contours of explorer's maps, the tracings and imprints of clasped hands reveal the passage of time, metaphorically uniting peoples of different cultures through the myriad of life's experience, each existing within a particular geographic location and each with a story to tell.' This print is one of 10 in the DUYFKEN Aboriginal Print Portfolio and is presented as a boxed set. The series was launched in Sydney on 28 October 2006 by Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.HistoryIn 1606, Willem Janszoon commanded the DUYFKEN in Australia's northern waters, searching for proof that the country would be a good trading partner with the vast VOC - Dutch United East India Company. The west coast of Cape York Peninsula became the first documented landing of Europeans on the Australian mainland, although Janszoon concluded that there would be little prospect of trade. This print is part of the DUYFKEN Aboriginal Print Portfolio, a collaboration between the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Australian Print Workshop (APW) in Fitzroy, Melbourne. In July 2006, ten of Australia's talented and emerging Indigenous artists were brought to Melbourne to take part in APW's printmaking workshop. The theme of the portfolio is 'first encounters' and the title takes its name from the first Dutch ship to land on Australian shores. The artists were chosen to represent the regions visited by the Dutch to produce a permanent record of the 400 years of Dutch contact with Australia. These regions include Melville Island, Arnhem Land, Cape York, Western Australia and Tasmania. Techniques used include photo-lithograph, linocut and hard-ground etchings The portfolio was sponsored by Forbo Flooring, Rabobank Australia, Rio Tinto Aluminium and Wesfarmers Arts and is limited to 50 numbered copies plus five artist's proofs, two APW proofs and two Presentation proofs.SignificanceThis print, along with the complete DUYFKEN Aboriginal Print Portfolio, is an important representation of Indigenous reactions to the first documented landing of Europeans on the Australian mainland; 400 years on, this portfolio was produced to commemorate the enduring maritime link between the Netherlands and Australia. The artists were selected from a variety of regions that had early interactions with the Dutch, in order to acknowledge the varying experiences Aboriginal peoples of Australia had of early European contact.