Working
title: "Outta Hand"
The actual boomerang that I want to make will be brighter (Fluro),
but I just made this one up with some spare fabric.This work came
about when I was thinking about the concept of 'hand luggage' and
the preciousness of the items which we put into our bags and take
onboard the plane as our hand luggage. We fill our bags with last
minute reminders of where we have just come from. Usually in the
form of souvenirs or memorabilia which represent a tokenistic, Kitsch
view of Australia i.e. Kangaroo's, Boomerangs, Didjeridoo's etc.…
Furthermore I was considering the various kinds personal property
removed from this country everyday. Not just by means of Kitsch,
memorabilia, and souvenirs, but also culturally. People taking away
what they believe as being 'Australia', This brings me to my use
of the boomerang (as Australian as Uluru) whilst representing out
heritage also takes the piss of this representation of our heritage.
To show this I need to present a little bit of history about 'the
boomerang' The boomerangs was originally created by the indigenous
people as a killing tool used when hunting food, it wasn't decorative
in any way, and it was considered to be a man's tool.Today the boomerang
is a symbol of Australia, and the original purpose is generally
forgotten, along with it's original ancestors. The boomerang today
apart from the didjeridoo is one of the only elements of what we
call 'Australian Culture' today which can be considered as being
true Australian Culture, and not borrowed or stolen from other cultures.
Firstly by creating a pink Fake Fur Fabric boomerang I wanted to
symbolize Australia, it fakeness of it'd culture, acknowledge the
origins of the only true Australian symbols, look at the commercialization
and mass production of the souvenir item. The preconception of indigenous
art as being about dots (whereby the body stripe design is one of
the more sacred, forms of painting that the indigenous people use
today). It's about the 90's take away culture. It abut the need
to travel light. Buying things to take overseas that symbolize Australia
that can fit into your bag. That's why the Boomerang became so popular
as a take away item of Australia's Culture. And in doing this the
Boomerang has lost all it cultural meaning and bears no resemblance
to the original object which was used for Hunting and in men's ceremonies.
Today the boomerang has become more like a toy than an weapon or
a tool, the Pink Fur thus reiterates this notion. |
