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Artists: Gail Stiffe and Marianne Little
Dragon Paper, High Street Prahran, July 27-August 15, 2001
Entering the exhibition space was like walking into a cave filled with stalactites of a warm earthy colour, not fixed but in constant gentle motion. The constant movement was triggered as people moved between the message sticks, moving the discs and reading the messages inscribed on each handmade paper disk.
When I first heard of the
exhibition, I had doubts about the use by non-aboriginal artists of the
aboriginal term ‘message sticks’. After viewing the exhibition all
doubts disappeared. The term was entirely appropriate. The works
evoked the dry Australian
Landscape, and I doubt if
any aboriginal would take offence at this way of telling some of their
history.
Each of the disks that had a hand written messages on it told of some traumatic event in the history of the black people on this continent since white occupation. They tell of death, injustices and dispossession. I became so involved in the handwritten messages that I soon found myself skipping the printed messages that related to papermaking.
Each of the message sticks consisted of dozens of handmade paper disks in an oviform hanging from the ceiling. The skill of the papermakers is evident in the careful scaling and sizing of the individual disks made from plant fibres. The passion of the artists for the subject matter, both for the papermaking and the opportunity to tell an important story is strongly felt. A totally interactive experience.
by Meg Paul
