Once upon a time... (detail)

Tony Albert's two works investigate ongoing racism in Australian sport and its continued presence in society more broadly. The smaller work, Daddy's little girl (after Gordon Bennett) (2010) responds to the story of an NRL coach excusing his reference to an Indigenous player as a 'black c...' as merely a casual remark and clubroom banter with no malice, while the more recent Once upon a time (2013-14) was made following the crowd abuse directed towards AFL footballer Adam Goodes. While the making of these two works is separated by only four years, this short period is an analogy of the ongoing racism present in society. Moreover, it is also a comment on the fact that racism is a learnt behaviour, passed down through generations. Both works are anchored by letters Albert sent to the late Gordon Bennett, one of Australia's leading contemporary artists and a champion of Indigenous rights. In the first letter, which forms part of Daddy's little girl (After Gordon Bennett), Albert writes of his admiration for Bennett and the influence Bennett had on his work and commitment to his art practice. The letter in the latter work asks why after the endless achievements of Indigenous sports people racism remains prevalent and continues to exist. Albert's work is a complex interrogation of the human condition, memory and representation. An avid collector and investigator of both high and pop culture, Albert's works are political and confronting. He asks us to consider how Aboriginal people have been treated throughout history and challenges the racial stereotyping, cultural misrepresentation and the long-standing power imbalance between the colonisers and the colonised.