Sacred nation, scared nation, indoctrination
2003
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through the NGV Foundation by Juliette, Danielle and Georgina Jerums, Member, 2003
© Gordon Hookey/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
- Gallery location
- Gallery 4
Ground Level, NGV Australia
About this work
Waanyi artist Gordon Hookey was born in Cloncurry, Queensland in 1961. Hookey created this bold triptych with the punch of a political cartoon. Sacred nation, scared nation, indoctrination was sparked by former US president George W. Bush’s election speech condemning the world to resource exploitation – symbolised in Hookey’s painting by an upside-down Earth. Bush appears ‘fat’ from the overuse of resources, sealing the planet’s fate. The first panel critiques environmental destruction and Indigenous land denial, captured in ‘terraism’ – a fusion of the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘terra’ (earth/land). Hookey subverts English to reclaim expression, countering the colonial erasure of his own language.
Artwork Details
Presented through the NGV Foundation by Juliette, Danielle and Georgina Jerums, Member, 2003
© Gordon Hookey/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Ground Level, NGV Australia