Impact II
Artist
Arone Raymond John Meeks
(Indigenous Australian, 1957 - 2021)
Date2007
Object number00054539
NameScreenprint
MediumScreen print on paper
DimensionsDisplay dimensions: 900 × 700 × 50 mm
Overall: 940 × 700 × 47 mm
Image: 755 × 555 mm
Overall: 940 × 700 × 47 mm
Image: 755 × 555 mm
Copyright© Arone Raymond John Meeks
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA black and white print titled 'Impact II' by Arone Meeks. The print depicts a black and white tree in the shape of an anchor with human and animal creatures on it.
This work reflects upon the introduction of European objects intertwined with traditional Indigenous Australian culture.
The anchor a symbol of first contact and the animals and people attached to it reflect on Australia's first people and what was here before.
With European occupation came a loss of culture and identity as the introduced objects took over the presence of Aboriginal AustraliaHistoryArone Meeks is a Kuku Midigi artist from Laura in northern Queensland. He was trained both in the traditional way of the Kuku Midigi as well as the City Art Institute in Sydney.
In his work Meeks has been able to combine the different forms of artistic training and experience such as in this instance of a screenprint. Like many of pieces, 'Imapct II', uses both traditional images and themes arising out of his concern with the current issue of land rights and the effect of Europens on his culture.
Meeks was part of the East Coast Encounter experience. This project is a multi-arts initiative involving Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists, writers and songwriters to re-imagine the encounter by Lt James Cook and his crew with Aboriginal people in 1770. Cook's voyage along the Australian east coast has become central to national historical narratives. The exhibition re-envisages this seminal journey by imaginatively exploring moments of contact between two world views during these encounters. It also brings these events into the present by incorporating artists' reflections on their relevance today, and their responses to visits to significant contact locations. Topics such as encounter, impact, differing perspectives, nature and culture and views of country are investigated.SignificanceThis work by Arone Meeks is significant in providing a contemporary Indigenous perspective of first contact and European occupation within Australia. It formed part of the East Coast Encounter exhibition as part of an ongoing attempt to provide an Indigenous perspective on Australia's history.
