Resist the System brings together two major artworks from Karla Dickens. Return to Sender is an installation that reworks a collection of found postcards picturing First Nations people from the turn of last century. Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens confronts these racist greetings with messages of strength and survival. This celebrated work will be exhibited alongside Criminalised, a new commission created especially for Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, that challenges the criminalisation of young Black children. The artist has sewn and decorated black balaclavas, typically associated with concealing the identity of a criminals, to create a new photographic series with young First Nation children from her neighbourhood on Bundjalung Country, NSW.
Karla and Jaz will discuss these works in a special artist talk at the gallery. This is a free event, with time for questions and discussion from the audience.
Karla Dickens is a Wiradjuri artist whose work spans sculpture, textiles, poetry, painting, photography, and found material collage. Drawing on her Indigenous heritage and experiences as a single mother, Dickens’s work uncovers hidden aspects of Australia's past and ongoing relationship with its Indigenous peoples. Using a range of methods and materials, her work celebrates and critiques historical figures and practices, interprets histories of institutionalisation and dispossession, and communicates the ongoing discrimination, oppression, and socio-cultural repercussions of colonialism experienced by Australians of Indigenous descent. Karla’s work has been included in the Biennale of Sydney, the Asia Pacific Triennial and numerous prestigious exhibitions in Australia and around the world.
Jaz Corr is an Aboriginal Visual artist who resides on the South Coast of NSW, Australia. She is a graduate of Curtin University in Western Australia (Boodja) and has a Bachelor of Arts (Double Major Fine Art and Visual Culture) and a postgraduate Master of Education (Visual Arts) from the University of Wollongong. As a proud Dharawal woman, her curiosity of the world has inspired a varied amount of artwork that reflects a critical view of social, political, cultural, and environmental issues. Jaz’s art practice demonstrates effective visual communication appropriate to both studio practice and art critical discourse. She has exhibited works in Sapporo Japan, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Sydney Living Museum, Gerringong Library and Museum, Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation Cultural Centre, Nan Tien Art Gallery, and has featured on the ABC .