Thursday 26 October 2023 to Friday 8 March 2024
Commenting on periods of ‘colonial nostalgia’, this faux-museological display of objects from the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection sits with artworks by the artist-curator, whose own collection of Victorian objects have been reframed by her critical interventions. Reflecting a confusion of art and historical objects, Colonial Confusion aims to unsettle typical readings of the historical collection.
Bio
megan evans is a multidisciplinary artist, who works in video, photography, sculpture and installation. Her work is informed by social issues, and she examines the nature of belonging and the impact of colonisation on identity, both personal and national. She began her creative life making large political murals in the 1980s, at which time she met and later married Indigenous artist and activist the late Les Griggs, who informed her perspective on colonisation.
megan’s current work considers how colonisation has shaped the identity of the coloniser, and it approaches the task of decolonisation through dismantling the aesthetic of the colonial era. megan positions herself as the colonial body in contemporary Australia and examines how to take responsibility for a past she has inherited. She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally, and her work is held in state and regional gallery collections.