Image: born in darkness before dawn, 2013, by Nicole Foreshew (cropped still)
A large-scale architectural projection of a woman draped in cloth will cover the 20-metre facade of the Australian Museum in Sydney each night from 20 November, 2013 to 20 February, 2014.
The artwork, entitled born in darkness before dawn, 2013, is the conception of Sydney-based Wiradjuri artist Nicole Foreshew. Slow moving still shots are combined in the three hour sepia-toned work, with images inspired from the artist’s original video work belong to all yet to none, 2012.
born in darkness before dawn is an exploration of the Aboriginal concept of place, with a focus on tracing personal histories and inter-personal connections. ‘It’s really born from another work (the video) that explores the relationship between light, materials, culture and people today,’ said Foreshew.
The artist uses a variety of plants and minerals to permeate objects within her work. She harvests these materials during different times of the year and extracts the seasonal colours with a focus on sustainability. Foreshew explains: ‘While we’re forever collecting and harvesting the material, it will maintain its life and it will continue a new life within the artwork.’
An example of this practice can be seen in the cloth draped around the artist’s subject – her friend Jessica Fing – in the projection. The cloth has been dyed using bark, leaves and various minerals – creating a permanent trace of these organic materials within the artwork.
This integration of visual content embeds the fabric with various layers of meaning that can be explored through performance. As the cloth becomes a worn object, it is filled with a ‘genetic rhythm’ of movement and stillness that reflects upon the social connections that emerge from space and place. The body is a neutral object wrapped in this living, moving concept.
Illuminating the cloth and projecting the final images expands this idea further. ‘I use the body and also the dyed cloth to perform this sort of idea of no-space or a nowhere space and then take it in to the digital world … that sort of takes it into another space, working around networks,’ said Foreshew.
born in darkness before dawn is the second artwork commissioned by the City of Sydney as part of the Eora Journey: Recognition in the Public Domain project, which is part of the City Art public art program. It will be launched on 19 November 2013 in conjunction with the inaugural Corroboree festival.
The artwork was commissioned as part of the City of Sydney’s Eora Journey: Recognition in the Public Domain, with Hetti Perkins as Curatorial Adviser. This initiative celebrates Sydney’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and its living culture in Sydney’s public spaces through public art.
Roughly translated to mean ‘the people’s journey’, the Eora Journey is made of key projects that will see the creation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander recognition in the public domain, an Aboriginal knowledge and cultural centre, and a 10 year economic development plan for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community equity in the works. It also plans to support a major annual event celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage.
born in darkness before dawn, 2013, is the second of seven planned public artworks within the Eora Journey: Recognition in the Public Domain. Lord Mayor Clover Moore believes it will share insights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture with viewers.
‘We’ve already seen Reko Rennie’s striking Welcome to Redfern terrace house artwork, and announced our plans for a memorial to honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women, Yininmadyemi by Tony Albert, at Hyde Park South,’ the Lord Mayor said. ‘The future will bring public art walking trails and a monument to the Eora peoples and I look forward to seeing Nicole’s work projected onto this landmark Sydney building.’
The Australian Museum was established almost 200 years ago as a place to catalogue rare and unusual natural history and it is committed to embracing the culture of Australia’s original owners.
According to Director of the Australian Museum, Frank Howarth PSM, ‘From repatriation, to our newly re-developed Indigenous Australians Gallery, we believe that encouraging and demonstrating respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reflects our national identity and diversity of our people, patrons and the community.’
His enthusiasm for the images that Foreshew has created extends beyond their immediacy. ‘They are a record of our heritage and the Australian Museum is thrilled to provide an opportunity for the works to be seen by our community and, importantly, where they will have the greatest impact – on the William Street facade of Australia’s first museum.’
For Foreshew, whose grandfather is a traditional owner of Peak Hill in the Wiradjuri lands of Central NSW, this connection with the Australian Museum is rich and meaningful.
‘The artwork responds to the Australian Museum site because it holds a huge amount of Aboriginal archaeological collections and objects, some of which directly relate to areas where my mum and grandfather were born,’ said Foreshew.
Family connections are particularly important to the work, as interactions with friends and family close to Foreshew, including the projected woman Fing, have informed the artist’s understanding of place.
‘When you look at place for Aboriginal people within Sydney NSW in general there is a lot of movement between spaces and places for us and really this work sort of connects me to those places, through the women.’
‘It’s not just spaces and reactivating them but also inviting Aboriginal people to be a part of the social fabric of those spaces,’ said Foreshew.
By this, Foreshew means engaging not just on the level of having a performance or an event, but rather on an everyday level to increase visibility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The commission of born in darkness before dawn, 2013, is a meaningful step towards this goal.
born in darkness before dawn, 2013, will run from 20 November 2013 – 20 February 2014 between 8:00pm – 11:00pm.
A launch event for born in darkness before dawn, 2013, for Place Projections will be held on 19 November at Cook & Phillip Park, corner of William and College Streets Sydney from 7:00pm – 8:30pm, attended by the Lord Mayor, the artist Nicole Foreshew, and Eora Journey Curatorial Advisor Hetti Perkins. All are welcome to attend. More information on the event can be found in What’s On.
