Michael Cook

Michael Cook is an artist based in Queensland specialising in using photography to challenge the history of Australia and ask the question of 'What if"?

Cook is of Bidjara heritage and spent much of his earlier photographic career as a commercial photographer working within Australia and internationally. In 2009 Cook started to use photography as a medium to explore the idea of what a reversal of Australian history would look like. By depicting an alternate contemporary society, where Indigenous Australians are not marginalized and underrepresented, Cook highlights how far from reality these situations are. By reversing accepted social, political and racial roles, the discrimination of Australian society is laid bare in a simple yet powerful images. Cooks use of photographs and his professional handling of the images, adds a heightened reality to a series of staged settings.

Cook has exhibited in Australia and internationally and his latest work in 2018 is based on the idea of an invasion of London by native Australian animals and birds and how alien and terrifying that might feel to London inhabitants. Again, a reversal of history.

Artists statement:

"I realised I could keep the Indigenous storyline and make it appealing from a different point of view, make connections to other cultures and perspectives. If you keep your own story but do it really well with a strong aesthetic, people will understand it."