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A Voice refused to Indigenous Australians: why and how?

“In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard”

In 1770, Captain Cook considered Australia Terra Nullius (‘nobody’s land’) after reaching Botany Bay in Sydney on 26th of April, and he proclaimed it a possession of the British Crown who then became a penal colony. On 18 January 1788, the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove with the first convicts. Since then, Australia has been living with the lie of an empty land, despite the 65,000 continuing years of presence of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. In 1962, the right to vote was given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but voting was not compulsory. However, full voting rights were not granted federally until 1984, when First Nations peoples had to register on the electoral roll. In 1963, the Yirrkala Bark Petitions were presented to the parliament. This was one of the first times that Aboriginal people presented a document for the recognition of their land. Read More

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The SaVĀge K’lub in Birmingham: ActiVĀtion, Presences and performances

Jeudi 20 septembre 2022, arrivées à Birmingham sous la pluie, nous entrons dans le Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) pour nous abriter mais surtout pour aller voir la dernière occurrence du SaVĀge K’lub, raison de notre venue. Ce K’lub a été créé à l’occasion du Fierce Festival et plus particulièrement du programme Healing Gardens of Bab (Les Jardins de la Guérison de Bab – faisant référence aux jardins suspendus de Babylone) qui “est une réponse artistique à [l’]histoire coloniale [célébrant] ce que l’Empire [britannique] a tenté (et échoué) d’éradiquer”.1 Healing Gardens of Bab est un espace de “célébration queer” où “des performances, des événements et des oeuvres d’art […] renforcent l’expression de l’homosexualité dans le monde, par le biais de spectacles joyeux et d’événements participatifs.”2 C’est au sein de cet espace que Rosanna Raymond et Jaimie Waititi présentent la SaVĀge K’lubroom inaugurale de Birmingham. Read More

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Is the Humboldt Forum really that bad?

*Switch language to french for french version of the article*

Friday 26th of November 2021. I am in Berlin (Germany) for a research trip related to my PhD project and the first place I go to visit is the Humboldt Forum: the newly built and opened museum in central Berlin, on the Museum Island. For months I had been following the case of the Humboldt Forum’s reopening which had, for sure, been making noise in the museum world and has, since the project of its creation, been a very controversial project. Read More

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The intimacy of a link between Australian Aboriginal communities and the muséum in Le Havre

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Australie/Le Havre – L’intimité d’un lien exposée actuellement et jusqu’au 7 novembre 2021, au Muséum d’histoire naturelle du Havre, revient sur une expédition scientifique incontournable dans l’histoire de la découverte occidentale du Pacifique. À l’aube du XIXème siècle, ce voyage mène 200 hommes, embarqués sur deux navires – le Géographe and the Naturaliste – sous l’autorité du commandant Nicolas Baudin, jusqu’en Nouvelle-Hollande (actuelle Australie). Parmi eux, deux dessinateurs : Charles-Alexandre Lesueur et Nicolas-Martin Petit, dont l’Œuvre est aujourd’hui conservée au Muséum du Havre. C’est ainsi que l’institution endosse aujourd’hui la responsabilité de transmettre et partager ce témoignage unique et ancien de la biodiversité australienne et des cultures aborigènes. Ce lien, qui relie la ville portuaire à l’Australie est bien celui mis en avant à l’occasion de cette exposition, dans une double perspective historique et contemporaine. Read More

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George Nuku’s trip around the world lands in Rochefort

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"I came to France with the intention of continuing the story.
In one respect, I am literally walking out of the lithographs.
I’m coming out of the picture and I’m in a repeat performance here in Rochefort.
However, the difference is that now the context has changed because this is all history. So the place where this context continues is in the museum."1

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Ten Canoes <emTen Canoes: a film between historical reenactment, myths and fiction

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[Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this article may contain images or names of deceased persons in photographs or printed material.]

Ten Canoes (10 canoes, 150 spears and three wives) is a film about Arnhem Land and its people, made with and by them. It is a film for Indigenous people and it is also an ambassador film for Aboriginal culture and therefore also made for an audience outside this culture. It is a story of forbidden love, brotherly bonds, kidnapping, witchcraft and revenge, treated with poetry and humour. In short, this is a rich work that CASOAR really recommends! Read More

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From Blandowski to Andrew: the story of an encyclopaedia

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Since the 1990s, an “archival turn” has been happening in contemporary art in Australia1  where artists have been engaging with archives, whether it be in museums, libraries, or archives per se. An influential artist at the forefront of this “new” movement re-reading the archive is the Wirardjuri (NSW, Australia)/Celtic ‘conceptual artist’2 Brook Andrew. Artist Brook Andrew can be regarded as an ‘archival mediator’3  who ‘remak[es and] remark[s …] anthropological or ethnographic objects’.4 It is his work The Island created in 2007-2008 after encountering Read More

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Visual repatriation: creating a present for the past

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        As Elizabeth Edwards has argued, visual repatriation visual repatriation is, in many ways, about finding a present for historical photographs, realising their ‘potential to seed a number of narratives’ through which to make sense of that past in the present and make it fulfil the needs of the present.”1 Edwards explains how visual repatriation visual repatriation is first a way for both Indigenous people and collections holders to shed light on groups of photographs, usually taken in the 19th and 20th centuries, and try to get information about these photographs. More importantly, visual repatriation visual repatriation can be said to allow one to generate narratives which bridge the gap between past and present. Read More

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“And Viot once again left for the Tropics” *

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This article was first written for the catalogue of the Bourgogne Tribal show's third edition in 2018.

      “A poet without a publishing house or work”1Jacques Viot entered the world of Parisian galleries and, more particularly, the surrealist scene in the 1920s. He represented artists like Joan Miró. After working for several artists and galleries and being deep in debt, Viot sailed the Pacific in 1926. After coming back to Paris in 1928, he got back in touch with Pierre Loeb who had had a gallery in Paris since 1924. Viot had worked with him before his departure. Viot suggested that he go to the South Seas in order to bring back objects that were fashionable at the time, particularly among surrealists. Read More

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R’Sis- L’Tié- Let-Pol : le « sauvage blanc » d’Australie

Lorsque deux hommes n’ayant pas de langue commune se rencontrent, que se disent-ils avant tout ? Leur nom. Je l’avais constaté en Islande comme dans le Pacifique. Je mis la main sur mon cœur – geste cérémonieux que j’espérai universel – et dis :
« Octave de Vallombrun. »
Il fit le même geste – là encore, une attitude en miroir de la mienne qu’il n’avait pas eue auparavant – et répéta :
« R’sis- L’tié- Let-Pol. »
S’il se présentait ainsi en insistant sur les deux premiers termes, cela pouvait-il être son nom et son prénom ? J’essayai :
« Narcisse ?
– R’sis ! »
Sa joie était visible, mais les mots se refusaient à sa mémoire et il en avait les larmes aux yeux. J’insistai donc :
« Narcisse ? C’est bien cela, mon garçon ? Tu t’appelles Narcisse ?
– R’sis », confirma-t-il en posant la main sur son cœur.
Nous restâmes alors muets, émus tous deux de ce premier contact. Je le fixai sans cesse, comme si son visage allait me révéler le secret de son existence.1

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