The IMA is pleased to present the inaugural Green Room exhibition by Brisbane-based artist Dale Harding, White Collared. Harding is a descendent of the Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal peoples of Central Queensland, who has gained recognition for works that explore the untold histories of his communities. Recently he has been investigating the social and political realities experienced by members of his family who lived under government control in Queensland.
The lives of the young Aboriginal women and the little girls who were forced to live in the dormitories on Woorabinda Aboriginal Mission in Central Queensland were governed by restriction, confinement and control. The White Collared series presents imagined artefacts of mission times in Queensland’s recent history when the Department of Native Affairs, Police and Church Missionaries imposed total control over the lives of Aboriginal people.
The Green Room is a new dedicated space at the IMA for projects with a connection to our region.
Biography
Harding’s first solo exhibition, Colour by Number, was curated by Tony Albert at Brisbane’s Metro Arts (2012). He has participated in a number of group exhibitions, including string theory: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art From Black Australia, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (both 2013); Outlaws, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda (2014). Harding’s work can currently also be seen in GOMA Q: Contemporary Queensland Art at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art.
Image: Dale Harding, White Collared (detail), (mixed media, 2015).
