New Holland; Port Jackson: Ceremony of the funeral of the indigenous people

This work is part of a series called POWERFUL OBJECTS - a curated selection of historic objects and documents from private and public collections, shown across the many venues of NIRIN. These archives form a trans-historical window through which to engage with cultural material from different places and times. The display of POWERFUL OBJECTS is a microcosm of the millions of archival objects dispersed internationally in museums and historic collections. These objects have been selected to resonate with the broader themes of NIRIN. There are resilient pieces of evidence, modes of storytelling, clues and traces, all reminding us of forgotten or ignored ceremonies, histories and trajectories set forth by artisans, historians, silent witnesses and healers – some un-named or un-recorded. These objects reveal, reignite and sustain our connections across times, places, and people in ways which may not be apparent to us all today.