Crucibles, 2022

oil, acrylic on linen, 19th century ceramic objects, 75x60cm 

Exhibited at Mosman Art Gallery, NSW  

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The artwork recontextualises two 19th century colonial artifacts found at an old Tasmanian mine. The antique crucibles are remnants of extractive colonial systems. The crucibles are presented with various indexes of archive and documentation—a museum grey infinity curve, a colour registration scale, and taped photographic frame marks. They are half painted in chromakey green, a colour used to project new images over existing ones. The crucibles are preserved, but are now also a surface for projection, and an artwork. Colonial objects morph to fit the evolving logics of settler colonialism, validating the continued occupation of stolen land. The artwork reveals the mechanics of the revisioning work that settlers perform every day.