My Country (Art Gallery)

MY COUNTRY , BLACK AUSTRALIA

BINDI COLE

I FORGIVE YOU 2012

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Forgiveness is a deeply personal act and can be very difficult for some people. The idea of forgiveness for Aboriginal Australians can be connected to the reconciliation movement and to the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, made in 2008 by the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, MP. In this work, Bindi Cole felt that written words covered with emu feathers, a beautiful and unique material native to Australia, would make her message instantly appealing and easy to understand. The words, ‘I forgive you’ can mean many things, depending on how and by whom they are spoken or written. This work reflects the important role of forgiveness in contemporary Australian and Aboriginal society.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bindi Cole was born in Melbourne in 1975, and has both Aboriginal (Wathaurung people) and British–Australian heritage. She uses photography, painting, collage, text, video, performance, sound and projections in her deeply personal works. In 2009, Cole won the Deadly Art Award as part of the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards. Her highly successful ‘Sistagirls’ series was first shown in Melbourne in 2010 and has since travelled around Australia and to the United States.

CONCEPTS

Bindi Cole’s early work often focused on identity and the way society tends to make judgments based on appearances. Cole has used her art practice to explore issues that have affected her personally, as well as her family. She began working with the idea of forgiveness in the video work Seventy Times Seven 2011. The title of the work, taken from the Bible (Matthew 18:22), was Jesus’ answer to the question of how many times a person should forgive the sins of their brother or sister. Cole’s work calls on viewers to think about their attitudes regarding this question