After Nulla: Through the Lens of Aboriginal Art

ABSTRACT

After the riots at Cronulla, I wrote about the separation of that event as a one-off in popular imaginings, while others were riotous flashpoints. The tricky manoeuvres of whiteness include its capacity to produce cultures of racialisation that demonise some, while exonerating the riotous behaviours of others. Aboriginal commentaries on the events at Cronulla were scarce, at that time. Since then, Aboriginal artists have provided commentary on the Cronulla riot as part of a wider critique of whiteness and racialisation in Australia. Fiona Foley’s series of photographs titled ‘Nulla 4 Eva’ infuse Aboriginal, Middle Eastern and Asian ethnicities onto the canvas of Cronulla’s whiteness. Vernon Ah Kee’s Cantchant series also provides commentary on the riots. These Aboriginal artists recall that racialised extremism is not a recent or one-off phenomenon in neocolonial Australia, while Sandra Hill’s Homemaker #6: Surfs Up asks who owns the beach? These artworks provide a reminder of the uneasy relationships between the identifications of Aboriginality and the groups that have arrived since invasion. Cronulla ‘ten years on’ was a time to reflect by including some of the understandings and commentaries of those with the longest memories of racialisation and processual whiteness, in Australia.

KEYWORDS:

• Aboriginal art
• Cronulla riots
• whiteness
• race riots
• racialisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Wendy Shaw is a geographer at the University of New South Wales. Shaw’s research fields include the critical race study of whiteness in postcolonial Australia and Indigenous geographies; theoretical debates about identity, specifically concerning urbanism and urbanity, gentrification and cosmopolitanism, and the complex realities of (post)colonial urban life in Australia, and beyond. Current research includes projects and collaborations that span the Asia-Pacific region, new methodological journeys and fascinating collaborations, which include work with non-social scientists that bring social science and scientific methods together in transformative ways. Shaw’s most recent foray includes contemplation of The Anthropocene.

Notes

1. I use the term ‘outsiders’ reservedly but in this instance, the term refers to those who were not part of Cronulla surf culture.

2. Based on 2011 Australian Census data, 17.3 per cent of the Sutherland Shire population was overseas-born compared to 31.7 per cent for Greater Sydney ( .id, n.d.).

3. The Block is a site of Aboriginal land in Redfern in Sydney. It was purchased by the Aboriginal Housing Company in 1972–1973 (see: http://redfernoralhistory.org/Organisations/AboriginalHousingCompany/tabid/209/Default.aspx).

4. In the 2010 exhibition ‘Fiona Foley: Forbidden’ Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA). See, http://www.mca.com.au/collection/exhibition/511-forbidden-fiona-foley/.

5. More information on Vernon Ah Kee’s work can be found at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA): http://www.mca.com.au/collection/artist/ah-kee-vernon/.

6. Fiona Foley’s HHH is at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), an image is available from the NGA website: http://cs.nga.gov.au.

7. On the use of words, or text, in visual art see: https://textarthistory.com/category/art-history/.