Cow with Body Paint

Christopher Pease weaves the stories and histories of Aboriginal people and white settlers into a narrative with an Aboriginal perspective. He brings the Aboriginal story to the forefront and superimposes it on the ‘other’, in effect reversing the stereotypical roles as seen from the official settler perspective.

Cow with body paint2007 is a notable deviation from Pease’s familiar reinterpretation of colonial histories. In this work he provides the viewer with a stark but subtle reference to the destruction and degradation of his country. The bull, painted in traditional Nyoongar body designs, almost like a traditional cattle brand, stands lonely in a stark brown landscape, void of flora or fauna, referencing the degradation of the land, specifically in the area around Narrogin, Western Australia.

The resin from native balga (or grasstree), which the artist collected from his country in the Darling Ranges, is carefully applied first to a layer of shaped hessian, then to canvas. Pease’s minimal use of texture and colour produces a stark and barren landscape, accentuating the dark contrasting form of the bull. The devastating impact of introduced species on native flora and fauna is undeniable and the impact on local Aboriginal people, particularly in the cattle industry, underlies this work.

Tina Baum

Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010

From: Franchesca Cubillo and Wally Caruana (eds) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: collection highlights National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2010