The Fourth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

MICHAEL RILEY Sacrifice 1993 Four of 15 cibachrome photographs, ed. 1/1 61 x 51 cm each; 58 x 38cm each Collection: The artist In 1993, Riley created the monumental photographic work Sacrifice, a 15-panel installation. This is a precursor to the colour photographs in Cloud 2000. The works in Sacrifice again demonstrate an enigmatic allusive interpretation of Indigenous issues, with specific references to assimilationist policies and to the influences of Christianity. The 15 untitled photographs show no images of Aboriginal people. We are left to wonder what connections to make. What is hidden, and what is revealed, through the mysterious depictions of basic elements and components such as water, flowers, spoons, fish, powder and crucifix? In one image eight sardines are on their sides, lined up in close formation, bellies gutted. Other photographs show a crucifix necklace resting against the skin of the wearer - one in sharp focus, the other blurred. What are we to make of the image of the three powdered substances, or of the six spoons? Michael's statement about the work at the time was as cryptic and off-hand as his persona: 'In the 1940s and 1950s missionaries tried to assimilate Aboriginal and Islander people - they tried to control Aboriginal lives.' 5 His brief comment on this work belies the unwritten history of the struggle of his own people to continue to live in their ancestral country. Indeed Michael's parents (his mother from the neighbouring Gamilaroi nation) had lived at the Tralbragar Reserve, which was established in the late 1800s on the junction of the Macquarie and Talbragar Rivers, a 'safe' distance from the main township. It was not until 1950 that children from the reserve were allowed into the Public School in Dubbo. Successive generations of Aboriginal youth continue to struggle with modern pressures of unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse. Over the last decade, with the emergence of a popular political movement towards reconciliation, Australians have come to learn more of the mission times, which isolated Indigenous families on government reserves under a regimented system. Recent award-winning feature-length films such as Phil Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence and Ivan Sen's Beneath Clouds address these themes in dramatic form and have brought these issues to even w ider audiences. The reticence of our older generation to speak confidently and openly about their history is fading. Michael Riley's work in film and photography over the years has been a part of the process among Indigenous artists of getting their stories told. His is an enduring and poetic expression of Indigenous struggle and human sensitivity. Avril Quaill is Associate Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, at the Queensland Art Gallery. A version of this essay was originally published in lndicium: Identity in Australian Contemporary Photomedia [exhibition catalogue), Penrith Regional Gallery and The Lewers Bequest, Emu Plains, NSW, 2001. Reproduced with kind permission. 95