After Nulla: Through the Lens of Aboriginal Art

• Published in: Journal of intercultural studies Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 301 - 314
• Main Author: Shaw, Wendy S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 04.05.2017; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Aboriginal art; Aboriginal Australians; Artists; Comments; Cronulla riots; Ethnicity; Extremism; Indigenous peoples; Memories; Native art; Native peoples; Neocolonialism; Photography; Race; race riots; racialisation; Racialization; Riots; whiteness; Australia
• ISSN: 0725-6868; 1469-9540
• DOI: 10.1080/07256868.2017.1314253

After the riots at Cronulla, I wrote about the separation of that event as a one-off in popular imaginings, while others were riotous flashpoints. The tricky manoeuvres of whiteness include its capacity to produce cultures of racialisation that demonise some, while exonerating the riotous behaviours of others. Aboriginal commentaries on the events at Cronulla were scarce, at that time. Since then, Aboriginal artists have provided commentary on the Cronulla riot as part of a wider critique of whiteness and racialisation in Australia. Fiona Foley's series of photographs titled 'Nulla 4 Eva' infuse Aboriginal, Middle Eastern and Asian ethnicities onto the canvas of Cronulla's whiteness. Vernon Ah Kee's Cantchant series also provides commentary on the riots. These Aboriginal artists recall that racialised extremism is not a recent or one-off phenomenon in neocolonial Australia, while Sandra Hill's Homemaker #6: Surfs Up asks who owns the beach? These artworks provide a reminder of the uneasy relationships between the identifications of Aboriginality and the groups that have arrived since invasion. Cronulla 'ten years on' was a time to reflect by including some of the understandings and commentaries of those with the longest memories of racialisation and processual whiteness, in Australia.