The Seventh Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

In 1989, Aboriginal photojournalist Mervyn Bishop created an amusing self-portrait titled Is there an Aboriginal photography? . In the image, Bishop holds a miniscule toy camera to his eye, implying ‘the subject is immense but the means of representing it is hardly there at all’. 1 In answer to Bishop’s question, curators Margo Neale and Timothy Morrell replied with a resounding yes. In ‘Who’s laughing? Humour in Indigenous Australian photography’, Neale and Morrell discuss the rich history of Indigenous photography and cite works by Tracey Moffatt, Fiona Foley and Destiny Deacon, who provocatively used the medium to bring Indigenous issues to the fore in the late 1980s and 1990s. Michael Cook continues this practice in his ‘Civilised’ 2012 series, by reinvigorating Indigenous photography in innovative and exciting ways. Historically, we are aware of a long tradition of Europeans photographing Aboriginal people as the exotic ‘other’ and for the purposes of scientific inquiry. The story of how Indigenous Australians have reclaimed this photography for their own means is generally less well known — the Queensland context being explored in Photography’s Other Histories 2003. 2 Jo-Anne Driessen and Michael Aird examine how Aboriginal people ‘look past’ the stereotypical portrayals of their relatives and ancestors, so that new interpretations may be forged. 3 In their essays, Driessen and Aird investigate personal journeys of family discovery through photography, where ‘images formerly lost in the public wilderness of the archive’ are recoded and reappropriated. 4 Michael Cook’s photography is also a personal journey. Adopted by a white family as a baby, he was later encouraged to find his Aboriginal birth mother and to explore his heritage. He states: ‘when I produce art, I feel a stronger connection with my ancestry. This helps me to understand Australian history — in particular, my history’. 5 Cook’s past as a successful commercial fashion photographer imbues his work with complexity and a certain flamboyance. His expertise in digital image making and post-production techniques ensures his work is a stimulating retake on Australian history. What results is a photographic practice which presents a uniquely Indigenous perspective of white Australian history — the history we were taught at school. He reclaims this history by reimagining the Aboriginal experience. In his ‘Civilised’ series, Cook dresses Aboriginal Australians in the period fashions of Spain, the Netherlands, England and France, the four European countries whose inhabitants visited Australia both before and during the early stages of colonisation. What results is a striking tableau of resplendently costumed models and dramatic props set against evocative backgrounds. Some images incorporate text drawn from the writings and journals of these Europeans that record their initial contract with the Aboriginal inhabitants. In these montages, Cook questions the narrow parameters of what is perceived as ‘civilised’: ‘Was being civilised about fashion, speech, cultivating the land, having Christian beliefs, or was it to do with the colour of someone’s skin or how they appeared?’ 6 To this end, Michael Cook refers to Captain James Cook’s journal entry, dated 23 August 1770: . . . they may appear to some to be the most wretched people upon Earth, but in reality they are far more happier than we Europeans . . . They live in a Tranquillity which is not disturb’d by the Inequality of Condition: The Earth and sea of their own accord furnishes them with all things necessary for life . . . 7 Cook’s digital colour photographs project a pensive and gentle humour, as well as an aesthetic pleasure in the act of dressing-up, which also pertains to the processes of digital photography: his photographic prints are built-up, or layered, from the surface. As restaged histories, Cook’s images are open-ended — they are diverse in their meanings, never hectoring. The images have subdued palettes which evoke a dream-like atmosphere; their magical reality creates a timeless space of past and present. Presented through the eyes of Aboriginal people, these scenarios have a liberating sense of theatre and possibility. In restaging the past, Cook opens up greater options for the future for all Australians. Michael Cook’s practice involves imagining how different history might have been if those Europeans had realised that the Aborigines they encountered lived in precious harmony with the land. In his series of arresting photographs, Cook revises this one-sided history of pervasive discrimination, which still continues to this day, and asks: ‘would a better understanding of Aboriginal cultures have made a difference to our history?’ 8 Michael Hawker 1 Margo Neale and Timothy Morrell, ‘Who’s laughing? Humour in Indigenous Australian photography’, Photofile , no.72, spring 2004, p.55. 2 Christopher Pinney and Nicolas Peterson (eds.), Photography’s Other Histories , Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2003. 3 Pinney and Peterson (eds.), p.5. 4 Pinney and Peterson (eds.), p.4. 5 Bruce McLean, ‘Michael Cook’, in Carly Lane and Franchesca Cubillo (eds.), Undisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial [exhibition catalogue], National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2012, p.45. 6 Michael Cook, ‘Civilised’ artist statement, supplied by Andrew Baker Art Dealer, 2012. 7 Captain James Cook’s journal entry, dated 23 August 1770, in Philip Edward (ed.), James Cook: The Journals , Penguin Books, London, 2003, p.174. In his artist statement and in Civilised #1 , Michael Cook refers to Captain James Cook’s quote as follows: ‘These people may truly be said to be in the pure state of nature, and may appear to some to be the most wretched upon the earth; but in reality they are far happier than . . . we Europeans’. 8 Cook, artist statement. MICHAEL COOK ‘Civilised’ 104