Darren Siwes, Mulaga Gudjerie / Santiago Sierra, Destroyed World

Darren Siwes, Mulaga Gudjerie

Santiago Sierra, Destroyed World

Greenaway Art Gallery

Opening May 15^th 6pm

Runs till 23^rd June

Santiago Sierra is an artist and a self confessed anarchist. Inherently political, his work touches on topics that aren’t easy, often navigating blurry and indistinct areas of 21^st century ethics. His practice brings into focus the power relations between the privileged and the disadvantaged, and ideas of submission and domination. Showing alongside his monumental project Destroyed World, is Sierra's work 160 cm Line Tattooed on 4 People. This work is particularly confronting, Sierra has tattooed a line across the back of four heroin-addicted prostitutes in exchange for a shot of heroin. The documentation photographs open up more questions than they intend to answer, presenting an ethical dilemma about the role of the artist as perpetrator.

 

Darren Siwes photographic series Mulaga Gudjerie is equally political, depicting an alternative contemporary narrative that sees our head of state replaced with His and Her Majesty, the indigenous Queen and Prince of Australia. Siwes acts out what he calls ‘hypothetical realism’ within the photographs, an embellished possible future that, again, questions our 21^st century ethics, particularly in regards to hierarchical power. The subjects of the photographs are strange and powerful, their waxy whitened skin and regal outfits are enough to make you feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. As they sit together and blankly stare directly into the camera, the two royal subjects begin to make you reconsider the way that power is organized within our country. 

IMAGES:

Santiago Sierra, Destroyed Word, 2010-12, 5 by 10 montage, photographic prints, 180 x 200cm, edition of 3 + 1 A/P

Santiago Sierra, Línea de 160 cm tatuada sobre 4 personas, 2000 /160cm Line Tattooed on 4 People, 2000, photographic print, 100 x 148cm each, triptych, edition of 3

Darren Siwes, Northie Kwin, 2013 (from Mulaga Gudjerie series), giclee print, 120 x 100cm, edition of 10 + 2 AP, courtesy the artist and Greenaway Art Gallery

Darren Siwes, Jingli Kwin, 2013 (from Mulaga Gudjerie series), giclee print, 120 x 100cm, edition of 10 + 2 AP, courtesy the artist and Greenaway Art Gallery

Text: Copyright Adele Sliuzas, originally published on The Thousands