Dalrymple Gower (After Robinson

Content warning: these pieces contain references to deceased persons and the Frontier Wars.

The Indigenous history of Devonport is underrepresented in both the mainstream historical narrative and Robinson photographic collection held by the Devonport Regional Gallery. These artworks aim to juxtapose Indigenous Tasmanians’ portraits with Robinson images of the land here. This highlights the Indigenous invisibility as a result of class, racism and the decimation of the Indigenous population through the Black War. The purpose of using images of the land is to reconstruct the idea of Devonport as an Aboriginal place, rather than a colonial place, through the Western mode of photography. As an Indigenous Tasmanian artist, I was able to use portraits of people in my own family tree. Connection to land is an important aspect of Indigenous culture and these artworks attempt to reclaim an Indigenous identity, unbound by white understandings of Aboriginality which result in the lack of overt Aboriginal representation in the Robinson Collection and other collections alike.

Dalrymple Gower (After Robinson)