“INFERNO is a current incarnation of a body of work that has been steadily developing over the past eight years. It seeks to highlight deeply embedded links between religion, economics, and power in colonial societies of the ‘West’, with a precise focus on Australia. It is informed by my own Catholic upbringing and experience, having been baptised in a desert township; Alice Springs.
The large-scale oil paintings are detailed and layered with meaning, often referencing the canon of Western religious works that span from the Icon schools, Middle ages, Renaissance periods through to the current day. The work wrestles with themes of power and dominion—in particular, how religion and economic control served colonialism and empire building over time and the representation of its customs and edifices in our everyday lives. Various situations are interpreted and restaged to demonstrate the interplay between physical, cultural, and spiritual violence.
INFERNO discusses the inherent link between religious conversion and land repossession, and the accompanying ‘civilising’ narrative that has been utilised to justify these actions. It is an admonition and a play of the dominant cultural agenda, casting Aboriginal people as the key protagonists in recent pasts and foreseeable futures.” – Ryan Presley, 2022
IMAGE: Ryan Presley, INFERNO (Bountiful Views), 2022, oil and 23k gold leaf on polyester, 182 x 152 cm (Detail) Photo Credit: Carl Warner
