Rural Utopias
with SPACED and the Kimberley Land Council
As part of SPACED's Rural Utopias program Alana is an artist in residence with the Kimberley Land Council.
Under the guidance of the KLC's legal team I have been learning about the legal and bureaucratic processes structured by non-Indigenous Australia that enable colonisation's ongoing pursuit of a rural utopia.
Specifically I have been looking at the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act, which claims to protect Aboriginal Heritage while actually providing a pathway for its destruction. I have also been photographing gravel pits, and interrogating processes of "consultation" and "community engagement".
2019-23
In addition to sharing work in progress with the KLC and the public in Kununurra and Broome, phase 1 of the residency culminated in the making of a 2hr 41m video. This video, produced in PowerPoint, details the project summaries of 967 applications submitted between 2010-20 via Section 18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act. Each of these 967 applications is seeking legal permission to "destroy, damage, or alter" an Aboriginal site. This video was narrated over 2hr 41m without pause, by Sam Walsh AO, former CEO of Rio Tinto.
Three reflections on this process can be accessed below:
Unfolding across 2022 phase 2 will see Alana engage with material accessed via Freedom of Information, organise public screening events in Kununurra, and culminate in an exhibition with the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
