Red Flags is Wadawurrung artist Kait James’ most ambitious solo exhibition to date. Since 2018, James has been carving out a unique visual language based in the reappropriation of racialised products. Colloquially identified as ‘Aboriginalia’, these mass-produced, commercial objects range from souvenir tea towels and pennant flags to children’s dolls and ceramic figurines. Primarily created from the 1950s through to the 1980s for consumption by non-Indigenous tourists, they depict culturally insensitive and racially stereotyped imagery, designs and motifs.
In a practice of subversion, James embroiders into and on top of these products, embedding language and imagery to forge new narratives linked to contemporary political campaigns and debates. Combining autobiography, incisive analysis and wry humour, James’ practice reveals a deep reverence for her culture alongside a glimpse into a shared Aboriginal-Australian experience.
Kait James: Red Flags is a Warrnambool Art Gallery exhibition, curated by Aaron Bradbrook and touring nationally with NETS Victoria.
This project has been supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia and the Visions of Australia program as well as receiving development assistance from NETS Victoria’s Exhibition Development Fund, supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Images supplied. Courtesy the Artist and Neon Parc.
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