Stolen Land by Billy Bain, 2024

Transcript

This work is a ceramic sculpture with underglaze, glaze and metallic lustres, wood and fabric displayed on an oval-shaped plinth. The sculpture measures 110 centimetres high by 170 centimetres wide by 60 centimetres deep and consists of three Aboriginal figures which can be viewed from all sides in the middle of the exhibition space.  

Working from left to right, is the figure of a child, being held and supported on a woman's hip. The child is dressed in blue overalls and a green striped jumper. The child’s mouth is wide open, crying out with wide eyes and one arm raised and fist clenched in protest. 

The female figure has a staunch look of defiance on her face with lips pursed and blonde hair gathered tight on the top of her head, held together in a bun. She wears gold hoop earrings, a pink t-shirt tucked into mustard-coloured jeans decorated with a daisy print and she wears cream sneakers. To the right, her hand is clasped tightly around a timber pole which holds a flag between herself and the male figure who is on the far right. 

The words STOLEN LAND are printed in capitals over the iconic Aboriginal flag design, with STOLEN in red over the band of black and LAND displayed in black over the band of red below with a yellow circle in the centre. The male figure holds the timber pole on the other side, casting the protest flag aloft in an act of demonstration and resistance. He gazes out, also with lips pursed in solidarity alongside the woman and child companions. He wears a black hooded jumper with the words, Warumpi Band Go Bush! and a photograph of four figures in a desert setting, three black and one white man. He also wears a red baseball cap with the word WARAMI! in yellow across its front. He wears a large silver ring on his left hand, blue jeans and grey sneakers. On his back is a cream and black backpack which can be seen in more detail from the rear of the sculpture. 

Of his work, Bain says, ‘my practice spans ceramic sculpture, oil painting, etchings and installations, creating new narratives that discuss a contemporary idea of what it means to be a young Indigenous person in Australia today.’ 

Billy Bain is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist of Dharug descent, the traditional Aboriginal people of Greater Sydney.

For more information, visit Billy’s website at billybain.com.