Images(3)

Unwelcome

Artist Karla Dickens (1967)

Date2016

Object number00055323

NameSculpture

MediumWood

DimensionsOverall: 700 × 1500 × 3850 mm, 115 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Karla Dickens

Terms

DescriptionA work by Karla Dickens titled 'Unwelcome 2016 - Dinghy'. It consists of an upturned dinghy of four metres in length with eight oars inscribed with text, constructed as crosses that are installed in holes on the upturned hull. The text consists of slogans about identity, invasion, welcoming and unwelcoming. This work is the artist's response in exploring the similarities between the foreigners/refugees and Aboriginal Australians in current lived experiences. “While Aboriginal Australians never travelled to arrive here, they are very much 'unwelcome' and continually thrown overboard. The upturned boat which is named Unwelcome is symbolic in this regard.” - Karla Dickens HistoryArtist's statement: "I have looked across the harbour towards North Head, time and time again, placing myself in the position of bewilderment as our people watched the first of many ships armed with guns and diseases forge forward, uninvited. Genderless spirits with fearful souls in overcrowded canoes carrying poisons and deadly metals. As I walk along the paths and shore of North Head, the layers of loss and grief weigh heavily in my heart and deep in my bones. As an Indigenous Australian, the layers of presence connected to this site leaves the Quarantine Station dwarfed, hidden and unseen, as I'm asked to create work. Like a fast food outlet newly built on the site where a well-loved historical, architectural gem once stood. As I try to understand this bizarre reality I chose to use a boat turned upside down, supporting crosses that speak of death, along with unkind Australian responses directed towards 'The Other'. These responses, solid in a sense of ownership, leave me scratching my head as I sit with the uncomfortable ironic reality of the truth. The similarities between refugees and First Australians stand together with a close-knit bond of knowing the feeling 'Unwelcome'." - Karla Dickens, 2016. Significance'Unwelcome' is significant as a powerful, contemporary Indigenous view of the impacts of colonisation and immigration, and the notion of otherness, identity, invasion, welcoming and unwelcoming. It was created as a site specific piece in reference to the Quarantine station yet has resonance and reference to other sites and histories of invasion and immigration around the country.