Imagine how different Australia would be today if all our Prime Ministers had been Aboriginal.
That’s what Sunshine Coast artist Michael Cook encourages viewers to do with one of his photographic works currently on display at the USC Art Gallery as part of an exhibition called Michael Cook: Undiscovered.
In the work, ‘Through My Eyes’, the artist has reimagined the faces of Australia’s 27 Prime Ministers from 1901 to 2010 by overlaying their photographs with portraits he took of Aboriginal people from Cherbourg and other places.
The explanatory notes state: “By giving the faces of Australia’s former heads of government distinctly Aboriginal features, Cook is challenging us to look at the faces of Australia’s political leaders in a different way; through Indigenous eyes.
“In turn, this encourages us to consider what Australia’s political landscape might look like if our leaders were Aboriginal or took on a more Aboriginal point-of-view.”
‘Through My Eyes’ is just one of 70 works featured in the exhibition – on display until Saturday 7 November – that highlight the artist’s keen interrogation of the legacy of colonisation in Australia.
His themes across 11 series of work in the exhibition include role reversal, inverting dominant stories, and a consideration of what Australia might look like if the majority of its people were Aboriginal. He tackles issues such as invasion, slavery and assimilation.
Art Gallery Manager Megan Williams said Michael Cook: Undiscovered was the first career survey of this internationally recognised Australian artist who lives on the Sunshine Coast and grew up in Hervey Bay.
“Of the Bidjara people of south-west Queensland, Michael Cook had a successful career as a commercial photographer before becoming a photo media artist in 2009, a move driven by a desire to connect with his Aboriginal heritage,” she said.
“From his reflections on the political leadership of Australia and his revisioning of colonial history to his rethinking of assimilation and the great Australian dream, he has consistently made images that ask the viewer to reconsider Australia’s conflicted history and its impact on the political, social and personal of our present day,” she said.
“His work has been exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas and acquired by the British Museum and the National Gallery of Australia.”
Visitors to the USC Gallery are urged to check the gallery’s COVID-safe guidelines beforehand at www.usc.edu.au/art-gallery/visit-us.
The Michael Cook: Undiscovered exhibition can also be viewed online via www.usc.edu.au/art-gallery/whats-on/michael-cook-undiscovered
