WARNING: Members of Aboriginal communities are respectfully advised that this Project archive refers to the loss of cultural objects from across the south-east of Australia and may contain the images and names of deceased peoples.
For Project 32, Jonathan Jones presented barrangal dyara (skin and bones), a vast sculptural installation stretching across 20,000 square-metres of the Royal Botanic Garden. It recalled the 19th century Garden Palace building where it originally stood in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden, before it devastatingly burnt to the ground along with countless Aboriginal objects collected along the colonial frontier. The project was Jones’ response to the immense loss felt throughout Australia due to the destruction of these culturally significant items. It represented an effort to commence a healing process and a celebration of the survival of the world’s oldest living culture despite this traumatic event.
Read more about Project 32
Description
barrangal dyara (skin and bones)
17 September – 3 October 2016
Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Gadigal Country
Aboriginal culture and language, Architecture, Australian artists, Australian history, Environments, Installation, Monumental, Natural materials, Site-specific, Sound art / soundscapes