Julie Shiels: Unsettling the Landscape

An exhibition of a series of photomontages and lightboxes by artist Julie Shiels. The catalyst was a cache of historical glass lantern slides of European-style parks that influenced the city’s landscape design.

The land speculators who arrived in 1835 perceived the country as unhomely and uncultured and sought to colonise the landscape, converting it into a facsimile of their homeland. They dynamited the Birrarung (Yarra River), drained wetlands and replaced indigenous flora with exotic plants. The failure (or refusal) to recognise the richness of the pre-contact landscape reinforced the notion of terra-nullius and pushed Aboriginal custodians from view, concealing their dispossession and displacement.

Says Shiels, 'This project has deepened my understanding of how Naarm/Melbourne was colonised and is part of my ancestor’s settler story. I hope it will prompt others to consider the history of the unceded lands on which we live and work.'

Launch on Thursday 21 August, 5.30pm-7pm.