{"id":47035,"date":"2016-05-19T01:47:36","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T01:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=47035"},"modified":"2016-05-19T01:47:36","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T01:47:36","slug":"black-velvet-redefining-and-celebrating-indigenous-australian-women-in-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=47035","title":{"rendered":"Black Velvet: redefining and celebrating Indigenous Australian women in art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black Velvet: redefining and celebrating Indigenous Australian women in art<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Conversation (US Pilot)<\/a>
\n2016-05-08<\/p>\n

Sandra Phillips<\/strong><\/a>, Lecturer
\nCreative Writing and Literary Studies, School of Media, Entertainment and Creative Arts, Creative Industries Faculty
\nQueensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia<\/em><\/p>\n

*<\/sup>Warning: This article contains graphic language that may upset some readers, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander<\/a> readers should be aware that it may contain images, voices or names of deceased people.<\/em><\/p>\n

With her first solo exhibition, artist Boneta-Marie Mabo<\/a> has been inspired by the State Library of Queensland\u2019s collections to create new works that speak back to colonial representations of Indigenous womanhood.<\/p>\n

She found portraits of Indigenous women without any name, or with labels such as \u201cblack velvet\u201d or \u201cgin\u201d; objects, rather than women. Men on the frontier sought to control Aboriginal lands as well as women\u2019s bodies \u2013 with or without consent.<\/p>\n

The 2005 documentary Pioneers of Love<\/a> discusses the colonial fetish for Indigenous women.<\/p>\n

Revered author Henry Lawson was one of the first to popularise the phrase \u2018black velvet\u2019. It described the soft, smooth skin of Aboriginal women \u2013 or \u2018gins\u2019, as they were referred to then. The men who associated with Aboriginal women were known as \u2018gin jockeys\u2019. And their children were often referred to as \u2018burnt corks\u2019. \u2013 Watch from 1:52 of this clip<\/a> of the documentary.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Boneta-Marie\u2019s exhibition, Black Velvet: your label<\/a>, is more than a response to the past. It\u2019s also about the struggle not to let others define our identity. And it\u2019s a celebration of Indigenous women today, including Boneta-Marie\u2019s grandmother, activist and Order of Australia winner Bonita Mabo<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black Velvet: redefining and celebrating Indigenous Australian women in art The Conversation (US Pilot) 2016-05-08 Sandra Phillips, Lecturer Creative Writing and Literary Studies, School of Media, Entertainment and Creative Arts, Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia *Warning: This article contains graphic language that may upset some readers, while Aboriginal and Torres […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,24,8,4405,25],"tags":[986,23813,23815,23814,5628],"class_list":["post-47035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-arts","category-media-archive","category-oceania","category-women","tag-australia","tag-boneta-marie-mabo","tag-bonita-mabo","tag-sandra-phillips","tag-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47036,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47035\/revisions\/47036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}