decolonization
Highlights
L’Arbre D’Oublier (Oblivion Tree)
Filmed in Ouidah, L’Arbre D’Oublier shows Nazareth walking 437 times around the Oblivion Tree, countering a ritual imposed on enslaved Africans to erase memory, and linking Africa and Brazil through the history of the transatlantic slave trade.
The colonial exploitation of capitalism
Back in 2018, I visited the lovely town of Olinda in northern Brazil. It's popular with tourists, mostly Brazilian, and when my wife and I were admiring the town's facades, a man walked from around the corner and started talking to us, assuming we were Brazilian tourists. He was a tour guide and wanted to sell his services, and one of the very first things he said was "Oh, if only the Dutch had stayed, Brazil would be so much better off, today".
• Shelter I & II, quartzite ridge
Shelter I & II reflect Nici Cumpston’s deep connection to Country and the traces of Aboriginal presence in the landscape. Created from a serendipitous misprint, the two reversed images were paired to form an imagined place of refuge within a harsh environment.
The New Field
In The New Field, Public Studio walked the 900km Bruce Trail exploring decolonization, collaborating with artists, activists, scientists, and Indigenous guides to share knowledge, engage communities, and reimagine land through art, education, and dialogue.
Articles elsewhere
Walking West, Again
It’s the middle of June, and the forecast is calling for a hot and windy day, so I get off to an early start. Sparrows are chirping, and I hear children playing in a park. On Elphinstone Street, a dead squirrel, dessicated and stiff, lies in the middle of the sidewalk. Where did it come […]
Walking West, Once Again
It’s the middle of June, and the forecast is calling for a hot and windy day, so I get off to an early start. Sparrows are chirping, and I hear children playing in a park. On Elphinstone Street, a dead squirrel, dessicated and stiff, lies in the middle of the sidewalk. At the corner of […]
We walked the land together – with Conor coming down Carrowkeel
Walking with Conor down from the Carrowkeel megalithic tombs in Sligo, he reflects on his memories of walking and learning about the land with his grandmother. He recalls, as he walks, her own stories of walking as an act of imperial servitude and la...
