“In Tony Albert’s conceptually driven practice, he often re-appropriates and recycles items of vintage kitsch that feature Aboriginal images or imagery: objects the artist calls ‘Aboriginalia’.”
Sorry commemorates the apology on 13 February 2008 by the former Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, to Indigenous Australians who have suffered as a result of ‘past mistreatment’ by the Government of Australia.
Tony Albert’s collection and arrangement of kitsch ‘Aboriginalia’ might cause us to reflect on the cultural values and people that were behind their creation and how those attitudes relate to the Australian government’s words and actions. We can think about how these objects that were largely created by non-Aboriginal people reveal certain ideas about how those people relate to Indigenous culture.
