Metro Arts is the new BLAK – Bronte Mark

In the heart of the Brisbane city sits an iconic haven for artists. On Edward Street in a slightly hidden away tall building affectionately dubbed the Tough Old Broad, Metro Arts is a contemporary arts space that according to its artistic statement, “heralds the ‘new’ and keeps artists connected to context.” A facilitator of process, Metro Arts enable artists to extend, experiment, exchange and debate within the context of diverse creative inputs and constant peer review. Whilst providing 35 tenancies, including artist studios, creative small businesses a restaurant ect… The Metro Arts Galleries provide a professional exhibition space where Dale Harding has just exhibited.

Dale Harding, Blak boy, blak boy, the colour of your skin is your pride and joy (2012)

On the verge of graduating from the Queensland College of Art with a degree in contemporary Australian Indigenous art, Harding’s pieces range across the history when Aboriginal people were classified and numbered according to the tonality of their skin. Harding entwines his own contemporary experience with the lives of his matrilineal family through the domesticity found in cross-stitch juxtaposed with symbols and sentiments that reference Harding’s experiences as an indigenous artist. He explores the servitude which led to the sexual exploitation of Aboriginal women and girls and more broadly the administration of 'native affairs' in Queensland. Harding displays his versatility from the cross-stitched works with their suggestive text and almost totemic designs to the toxic lead breastplate and the minimalist sculpture that Harding has created as a 'quiet monument' to three generations of women in his own family. The confrontation of both the familiarity of the domestic cross-stitch and the unfamiliarity of the statements that reflect the horrid side of Australian society (past and present), force the viewer to reconcile the two. The artist appears to have the intention of using art to shift the viewers perception and understanding of the environment and objects that surround them, in order to not only acknowledge Australia’s past and present, but to also transform the future.

Dale Harding, of one’s own country (2011)

Despite the deep concepts, high aspirations and interesting forms of expression this exhibition seemed disjointed. The links between the different pieces were not obvious and quite confusing. Humour and irony do not sit comfortably when juxtaposed against themes such as rape and extremely horrid Australian history. If all the individual pieces were considered as one artwork, the relationships between the objects would have been more apparent. The only piece that truly stood out was of one’s own country 2011; at first glance the meaning is not clear however the piece is intriguing and challenges the viewer. The tightly coiled ball of crinkly steel evokes unease and fragility, something that none of the other works did. Having read up on it, it was unveiled that this particular piece represented the sexual exploitation of indigenous women that often went hand in hand with the employers of a generation of enslaved domestics. The piece was then proved to be emotionally obvious and thoroughly successful. The exhibition is interesting and thought provoking but the viewer requires the Colour by Number pamphlet if they wish to have any hope in seeing the juxtaposition and meaning between the works.