In Blak and White is a series of cyanotype prints by Boneta-Marie Mabo, tracing the systems that have sought to define, control and incarcerate Blak children and families.
Boneta-Marie Mabo is a proud Aboriginal Manbarra/Nywaigi and Torres Strait Islander Meriam woman, as well as being of South Sea Islander descent. Walking in the footsteps of her grandfather, the late Eddie Koiki Mabo, she is an activist and passionate prison abolitionist. These perspectives strongly inform her artistic practice.
Using cyanotype, a process of exposure, on teabag paper, the works bring Blak histories into visibility. They trace a colonial continuum from the intimate worlds of mothering and childhood, through the language of “protection” and education, to systems of removal, classification, labour and incarceration.
Stories are steeped into the teabag paper, connecting the works to the familiar presence of tea in many Blak households. Tea carries entangled histories of colonialism, domesticity, labour, hospitality and survival. Like the teabag, the works hold and contain while allowing stories, memories and histories to be drawn out. Through the material and process, ideas of exposure, containment and extraction become intertwined.
In Blak and White asks us to consider what happens when care becomes control, education becomes labour, people become classifications, and protection becomes incarceration.
Artist Talk: Friday 9 October, 4:30–5:30pm
Exhibition Opening: Friday 9 October, 5:30–7:30pm
Free event | RSVPs essential
Boneta-Marie Mabo received support from Brisbane City Council via the Creative Sparks Grant for this project.
Aboriginal Art Co receives operational funding from the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and the Australian Government through Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS), with philanthropic support from the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund (ACF).
