Notes To Basquiat By Gordon Bennett And Emily Kngwarreye
In the world of art, many artists are known for being vocal about their cultural identity and heritage and things they strongly believe in. They use their work as a means of expressing their views on society,politics,emotion and more. Curator Brenda Croft argues that some artists are "cultural warriors" who defend their territory through their art. In this essay, I will explore the works of two artists, Gordon Bennett and Emily Kame Kngwarreye, and analyze how their roles as artists can be interpreted to reflect Croft's view.
Gordon Bennett was an Australian artist of a Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic background. His work often explored issues of identity, race, and colonialism in Australia. One of his most well-known works is "Notes to Basquiat"
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In "Notes to Basquiat," Bennett takes on the role of a defender of Indigenous culture by critiquing the appropriation of Indigenous art by non-Indigenous artists. By doing so, he is asserting his position as an Indigenous artist and reclaiming his cultural identity. In this way, Bennett's work is an act of resistance against cultural domination and a defense of his cultural territory.
Another artist whose work can be interpreted as reflecting Croft's view is Emily Kame Kngwarreye, an Indigenous Australian artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. Kngwarreye's work is known for its abstract style and vibrant use of color. Her most famous work is "Big Yam Dreaming" (1995), a series of large-scale paintings that depict the yam plant and its significance in Indigenous culture.
Kngwarreye's work reflects Croft's view of artists as cultural warriors because it is an act of reclaiming her cultural territory. Through her paintings, Kngwarreye asserts the importance of the yam plant in Indigenous culture and reclaims it from the dominant culture. In doing so, she is defending her cultural identity and challenging the dominant discourse that seeks to erase Indigenous
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