Art & Activism
Robert Campbell Jnr, Charlie Perkins, 1986, University of Sydney Union collection. © the artist’s estate, courtesy the artist’s estate and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney. Photograph: © Michael Myers 2010.
If you missed Arts Monday’s interview on art & activism and Indigenous civil rights, be sure to catch my discussion with Matt Poll by clicking on ‘Freedom Riders Podcast’ below.
Matt Poll is the curator of the Sydney University exhibition ‘Freedom Riders: Art and activism 1960s to now’. The Australian Freedom Ride was led by Charles Perkins, who was the first Aboriginal graduate at Sydney University. In the University’s Freedom Riders exhibition, the background of the Ride and a portrait of Charlie Perkins by Aboriginal artist Robert Campbell Jnr (depicted) provide the framework for a dialogue between six Aboriginal artists who work in vastly different styles and media: Karla Dickens, Adam Hill, Jonathan Jones, Michael Riley, Elaine Russell and Christian Thompson.
Inspired by the ‘freedom rides’ into the segregated southern states of the USA in the 1960s, the 1965 Australian Freedom Ride took a busload of Sydney University students into regional NSW to expose Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal people. The Ride was an important part of the broader movement for civil rights and helped create momentum for changes to Australia’s policies regarding Indigenous Australians and Indigenous rights, including the landmark 1967 referendum.
In December this year the Australian Government will be presented with a report by an Expert Panel outlining options for constitutional recognition of our first peoples. Proposed changes to the constitution will be subject to a national referendum. In-depth information on the process, including the opportunity to have your say, can be found here:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/constitution/index.html
https://www.youmeunity.org.au/
Background and additional media on the Freedom Ride: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/a-bus-journey-to-fight-racial-discrimination.htm
Rights activism timeline illustrated with a work from the show: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/how-aboriginal-activism-brought-change.htm
Jane Raffan
www.ArtiFacts.net.au