Invasion (Telephone) 2017

Maker Michael Cook (1968)

Date2017

Object number00055775

NamePhotographic Works

MediumPhotographic Inkjet prints

DimensionsOverall: 1530 × 2238 mm
Image: 1359 × 1996 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionInvasion (Telephone) is set in a London street, the red structure marked ‘TELEPHONE’ stamping out an historical moment that brings to mind the beginnings of Doctor Who (1963). The invaders in this image are rainbow lorikeets, known in Australia for their colourful, cheerful presence. In the wild they are often the birds which fly to sanctuaries for tourist interaction in daily feeding routines. Yet in this image they are sprayed out from a hovering UFO with malignant intent; every human sheltering from (or a victim of) their wings, claws and beaks. The artist Michael Cook has personal history with this species, vested in his childhood in Queensland’s Hervey Bay — where he lived at a bird sanctuary and feeding the birds was his daily chore. HistoryInvasion explores a savage attack — albeit leavened by its irony, flawless beauty of execution, retro-look and dated sensibility — with deliberately heightened drama. These elements assist its fiction, returning the brutal treatment that Australian Aboriginals have suffered, starting two hundred and thirty years ago, at the hands of British colonists. In the current atmosphere of climate change and environmental threat, the incursion of malevolent nature in the form of invading animals also channels a natural subversion that overthrows human dominance and control.SignificanceContemporary Aboriginal perspective on first contact and colonisation. Draws on the story of Tasmanian man Woorrady, who had been transfixed on the sight of the first French ships.