Hand-drawn Australia 1st Nations’ Indigenous family tree of 2,400 generations over 65,000 years
Image Archie Moore
Australian 1st Nations Artist, Archie Moore awarded the prestigious Golden Lion for Best National Participation at La Biennale de Venezia 2024. This is the first time in history an Australian artist has received this accolade.
Awarding the accolade, the jury of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia said:
“In this quiet, impactful pavilion, Archie Moore worked for months to hand-draw in chalk a monumental First Nation family tree. Thus 65,000 years of history (both recorded and lost) are inscribed on the dark walls and ceiling, inviting viewers to fill in the blanks and grasp the inherent fragility of this mournful archive. The official documents drawn up by the State float in a moat of water. The result of Moore’s intensive research, these documents reflect the high rates of incarceration of First Nations people.
“This installation stands out for its strong aesthetic, its lyricism and its invocation of a shared loss of an occluded past. With his inventory of thousands of names, Moore also offers a glimmer of the possibility of recovery.”
Moore’s installation reimagines the conventional white cube of the pavilion as a “Blak monolith,” utilizing blackboard paint and chalk to craft a space for introspection and remembrance. The exhibition has garnered acclaim for its powerful visual impact and its evocation of collective grief, while also hinting at the potential for healing and recovery.
Moore is only the second First Nations artist to make a solo presentation in the 25-year history of Venice’s Australian pavilion, following Tracey Moffatt in 2017. It would draw on his Kamilaroi, Bigambul, British and Scottish heritage and present his family story as a distillation of Australia’s 254-year colonial history.
Venice Biennale 2024 Australia pavilion installation “kith and kin” features a meticulously hand-drawn family tree that includes 2,400 generations over 65,000 years of Indigenous heritage. Australia First Nations resilience is outstanding – as the longest living continuous civilisation through colonization, incarceration, loss of land and humiliation, his project “kith and kin” from the beginning of the proposal process.
The title plays on the original Old English usage of the terms, which referred (respectively) to countrymen, or “one’s own land”, and family members.
For Moore, this antiquated English meaning resembles “Indigenous ways of thinking about the land”.
“The land is part of the kinship system; it could also be a teacher or mentor, or parent to a child. Every living thing in the land is part of the kinship system.
Archie Moore, born in 1970 in Toowoomba, Queensland, is a Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist. His work often explores themes of identity, history, and the intricate relationships between cultures. Moore’s art is deeply personal, reflecting on his own heritage and the broader histories of his nation.
He earned a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane in 1998. His artwork frequently addresses key aspects of identity such as skin, language, and genealogy, and he often highlights the misunderstandings that can arise between different cultures.
It’s a powerful and moving representation of First Nations resilience and history.
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