As part of our current exhibition New Histories, Bendigo Art Gallery will be pulling back the curtain and talking about Hidden Histories.
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In a timely bid to widen the viewfinder beyond the white male colonial or European lens, art galleries and museums are seeking out alternative histories, new voices, and perspectives.
Museums are tackling the tricky task of how to approach historical narratives – to display objects in chronological order or to present a non-linear narrative that stimulates the audience to draw their own conclusions.
The latter is successful when an institution has access to a large collection of broader social and political artwork however not so well if – as in the case of the Bendigo Art Gallery – the collection was founded by well-to-do German and British colonists with a particular euro-centric investment.
Men who had a vision of ‘art for the people’, but who are the people?
The legacy of a Euro-Western superiority complex remains the core of the Bendigo Art Gallery’s 18th and 19th Century collection.
The voices of the First Nations peoples and the non-elite were omitted in a scramble to place Bendigo in line with its European and English Colonial counterparts as well as satiate the nostalgic needs of the new emigrants.
One could say Bendigo Art Gallery’s historic collection has traditionally offered a white male narrative of early Australia reflecting the interests and homelands of the new colonists, celebrating their conquests and omitting existing cultures in favour of a ‘Terra Nullius’ story.
So, where do we go from here?
Next week join us in a discussion about the history and responsibilities of the museum and the artist in their symbiotic roles as historical narrator and provocateur.
At the event, participants will have the opportunity to meet artist Phuong Ngo whose practice explores human rights and the identity of Vietnamese people; Rodney Carter, CEO of Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal Clans Corporation and former Melbourne Museum repatriation officer. Bendigo Art Gallery’s Tansy Curtin, Bendigo Art Gallery curatorial manager and Jessica Bridgfoot, curator of New Histories, will also take part.
Convened by City History and Collections curator Emma Busowsky Cox, join us as we contemplate the hidden histories of the art museum and map the way forward.
Hidden Histories is at Bendigo Art Gallery on Wednesday, May 30, 10.30am – 11.30am.
Free bookings phone, 03 5434 6088 or email bendigoartgallery@bendigo.vic.gov.au