Tony Albert

Queensland-born artist Tony Albert works in multiple art forms, including drawing, painting, photography and installation. His challenging and conceptual art explores the political, historical and cultural issues significant to Aboriginal people in Australia today, including their experience with war. Albert, who is based in Sydney, has created a number of works that respond to the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to Australia’s military forces, including the contribution of members of his own family.

Yininmadyemi Thou didst let fall, 2015, is a large public monument located in Hyde Park in Sydney, which honours the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women. Albert was inspired by the armed service of members of his Yidinji–Girramay family, including his grandfather Eddie Albert, who served in the Australian Army during the Second World War. He said:

This work is as much about individual stories as it is about collective history, which this country continues to deny. Indigenous soldiers were not paid for their service, nor were they given land grants. Some of our relatives were buried overseas, because after serving in the military they were not allowed back into Australia under the White Australia policy. These are the things the Australian public need to know and need to reconcile. [1]

In 2012, Albert became the first Aboriginal person to be selected as an Australian War Memorial artist. He was deployed with the Army’s Regional Surveillance Unit NORFORCE, where camouflage is an important part of its operations, in that it helps soldiers to move invisibly in the landscape. [2] Universal Soldier in AGSA’s collection is a sculpture assembled using ‘Aboriginalia’ objects, which are covered in shredded camouflage fabric. ‘Aboriginalia’ refers to items such as tea towels, ashtrays, spoons and decorative wall plaques that present stereotypical depictions of Aboriginal people from a colonial perspective. Universal Soldier depicts two figures, one carrying the other, their gender and cultural background obscured. Albert recalls his family’s experience with war, noting that gender and culture were irrelevant during battle, but on their return home their rights as soldiers were removed because of their Aboriginality. [4]

Acknowledging and recognising colonial frontier wars too

When we teach students about Australia’s involvement in wars throughout history, such as the First and Second World Wars (conflicts that Anzac Day and Remembrance Day commemorate), we should also be examining and acknowledging the colonial frontier wars. These include massacres of Aboriginal people that occurred at the hands of colonisers. We can’t be selective when it comes to our history and must explore all sides, particularly those that may make us feel uncomfortable and which help us to re-examine our past. Works of art can be an excellent platform to learn about these parts of Australian history, which are seldom taught.

Stories of frontier conflict are not commonly known by the general public, as many people do not want to acknowledge these aspects of Australian history. Aboriginal people who have lived through these situations have talked about them among their families and have passed on this knowledge since they first happened. Artists from across Australia have had these experiences and tell these important stories through their works of art. By engaging with their work, we learn from their experiences and can support them.

Alair Pambegan is a Wik-Mungkan man who lives in the Western Cape community of Aurukun in North Queensland. His late father was the highly respected elder and nationally renowned artist Arthur Koo’ekka Pambegan Jnr. Pambegan Jnr was custodian for Walkaln-aw (Bonefsh Story Place) and Kalben (Flying Fox Story Place), two signifcant ancestral stories of the Wik-Mungkan people. Alair Pambegan was handed down stories and responsibilities from his father, traditions he preserves while also creating compelling works that tell of the more recent past.

In the collaborative installation Frontier Wars: Bonefsh Story Place Albert and Pambegan reinterpret the traditional story by merging the shape of timber bullets with the shapes of large bonefsh into a powerful work.

In Pambegan’s work the strong stripes of red, black and white refer to the traditional body-painting designs worn during Wik-Mungkan ceremonies. In Walkaln-aw (Bonefsh Story Place) (2014) natural earth pigments and charcoal are used to create the linear and geometric elements of the composition

In the 3D piece Mother (2014), found garden rakes decorated with bands of natural pigment stand as powerful reminders of the inhumane treatment of Aboriginal women forced to work as often unpaid domestic servants. This is a personal story that resonates across accounts of colonisation.

In Tony Albert’s photographic series We can be heroes (2014), young Aboriginal men wear red targets on their chests, marks of their experience of negative stereotypes and treatment. The black, white and red of the works of Tony Albert and Alair Pambegan speak loudly of the past and the present. We can listen and learn.