DUB LEFFLER: DARKISH I love illustrating because you’re part of a particular tradition going back thousands of years. Telling stories with image is the progenitor of written language. Plus, the fact you are helping children read and thereby learn about the world through one’s work is an honor unto itself. – DUB LEFFLER
A descendent of the Bigambul and Mandandanji people, Dub Leffler was born on New Year’s Day in 1976. On his adoption papers, he was described as “darkish.” Like many Indigenous Australians, he was classified by the color of his skin which historically was seen as an indicator of suitability for assimilating into white society. Leffler came into the world as an insidious series of government programs aimed at assimilation were being dismantled. Between 1910 and 1969, an estimated 100,000 Indigenous children of mixed heritage were forcibly removed from their families, creating a Stolen Generation. Although not a member of the Stolen Generation, Leffler’s early life was parallel to those who are. He was a ward of the state for sixty-two days awaiting adoption and did not meet his mother, or any of his Aboriginal family, until he was twenty-five.
Dub Leffler is an illustrator, writer, animator and artist who has received international acclaim for his work in children’s literature. Darkish is Leffler’s first exhibition in the United States. It showcases illustrations from two of his best known books, Sorry Day (2018) and Strangers on Country (2020). Both books center on the importance of reconciliation, empathy and historical appreciation for the complexity of Indigenoussettler relationships in Australia.
Written by Coral Vass, Sorry Day explores the trauma of the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families. The book cuts between two events: a flashback of one such abduction, and a young Aboriginal girl and her mother watching Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologize to the Stolen Generation on February 13, 2008.
Strangers on Country by David Hartley and Kirsty Murray recounts six historical encounters between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in northeastern Australia.
MANDANDANJI COUNTRY
By revealing rare moments of positive and loving engagement across cultures,
BIGAMBUL COUNTRY
Strangers on Country suggests the possibility for reconciliation through empathy and respect for Indigenous people and their cultures.
Illustration is an undervalued art form in the museum context, especially given the significant impact it has on our perceptions and understandings of the world. Leffler’s work brings Indigenous ways of being into focus, presenting positive and diverse images of Indigenous Australians of different backgrounds and life experiences. It fills an important gap in the representation of Indigenous people, who were often either left out or stereotyped as primitive, in children’s literature. In contrast, Leffler draws with a softness that encourages the viewer to linger on the personalities of each of his subjects, to look beyond skin color to see their humanity. In their eyes is pain and suffering, but also the kindness and warmth of personal encounter. This exhibition is dedicated to my grandmother Amelia Dancey (née Hopkins), who knew the old Bigambul songs in language and went to the very last Bigambul corroborree. — DUB LEFFLER This exhibition and residency are sponsored by Australia Council for the Arts and the UVA Mellon Indigenous Arts Initiative.
UVA Mellon Indigenous Arts Initiative