Reaper (with found objects)

Artist Neil Healey

Date2014

Object number00054543

NamePainting

MediumOil, acrylic. ink, pencil and collage on board

DimensionsDisplay dimensions: 880 × 880 × 20 mm
Overall: 878 × 880 × 20 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA painting by Neil Healey titled 'Reaper (with found objects)'. It depicts Joseph Banks in a dark mangrove, making his way through the Australian landscape for the first time, collecting objects to take back to England with no understanding of the land that he is disrupting and with no knowledge of who the land belongs to he takes what he wants. HistoryThis work by Neil Healey was produced for East Coast Encounter, a multi-arts initiative involving Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, writers and songwriters to re-imagine the encounter by Lieutenant James Cook and his crew with Indigenous people in 1770. Cook's voyage along the Australian east coast has become central to national historical narratives. The East Coast Encounter project asked artists to re-envisage this seminal journey by imaginatively exploring moments of contact between two world views during these encounters. It also brought 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 painting by Neil Healey is significant in providing an Indigenous view of first contact and European occupation of Australia.