Lisa Radford

A collaboration between Kokatha and Nukunu artist Yhonnie Scarce and Melbourne based artist Lisa Radford, The image is not nothing (Concrete Archive) examines the on-going effects of colonisation on Aboriginal people. Between 1956 and 1963, the British conducted Nuclear Tests at Maralinga, South Australia. For several years Yhonnie Scarce has returned to Woomera and Maralinga in order to conceptualise and produce works that act as a memorial to the unspoken displacement and genocide of Aboriginal people as a result of these tests. In this context, Maralinga is a site for beginning to consider the role of memorialisation and how it might be conceptualised and actualised. Lead by artists, The image is not nothing (Concrete Archive) asks how we can address the cultural amnesia which obfuscates if not renders invisible the the Genocide of Aboriginal people in Australia since colonisation in order to address the impact this has had on our shared experiences, conflicts and representations of citizenship.

An evolving project documenting the shared experiences of 2 women: one Aboriginal, the other non-Aboriginal, Concrete Archives has involved fieldwork to local and international sites of nuclear colonisation, genocide and memorialisation, an editorial project with Art + Australia online and a major curatorial project debuting at ACE Open (ADL) and travelling to the VCA (MEL) — this digital, oral and exhibition "archive" includes historical and contemporary works making materially present the loss.

Artists: Mareike Bernien and Kerstin Schroedinger (DE), Kumanara Boogar (Yalata, AU), Phil Collins (DE), Megan Cope (Quandamooka), Trent Crawford(Naarm, AU), Matthew Davis (AU), Pam Diment (Ceduna, AU), Korpys/Löffler (DE), Rosemary Laing (AU), Hayley Millar-Baker (AU), Sanja Pahoki(Woiwurrung, AU), Warren Paul (Ebay) (Yalata, AU), Ashley Perry(Quandamooka), Nina Sanadze (AU), Jelena Telecki (AU), Unbound Collective (Kaurna Yarta, AU), and Judy Watson (Waanyi, AU).

Nina Sanadze

Apotheosis, 2021 An original studio archive of a prominent soviet monumental sculptor Valentin Topuridze (1907-1980), plaster models, moulds and fragments. 1600 x 3100 x 600 cm.

Phil Collins

zašto ne govorim srpski (na srpskom) 2008 single channel video projection, b/w and colour, sound, 34:00 minutes

Kumanara Boogar

Walpa (Wind) Bulga (Big) Maralinga c.2010 acrylic on canvas, 95.5 x 71cm

Pam Diment

Maralinga 2015 clay, glaze, body stains, 50 x 20cm

Niki Hastings

McFall Nuclear Rosary—White Sunday

Kumanara Boogar Walpa (Wind) Bulga (Big)

Maralinga c.2010 acrylic on canvas, 95.5 x 71cm

Pam Diment Maralinga 2015 clay, glaze, body stains, 50 x 20cm

Rosemary Laing

one dozen considerations, Totem 1, Emu 2013 C type photograph, 48.6 x 77.1 x 6cm one dozen considerations, Totem 2, Emu 2013 C type photograph, 112.6 x 196.6 x 7.4cm

Trent Crawford

Newclear (Single story reinforced masonry block house) 2017 Newclear (Two story brick & cinder block house with basement shelters) 2017) Newclear (Single story frame house rambler with reinforced concrete bathroom) 2017 Newclear (LPG as pumping and distribution station) 2017 silver gelatin prints, 60 x 47.5cm each

The Image is Not Nothing (Concrete Archives), ACE Open, installation image

Hayley Millar-Baker

Untitled (The best means, of caring for, and dealing with them in the future) 2018

Untitled (So he mixed arsenic with half the flour and a raging thirst was created) 2018

Untitled (The theft of the White men’s sheep) 2018 inkjet on cotton, 80 x 100cm each

eBay (Warren Paul)

Marcoo 2016 clay, earthenware, body stains, 35 x 22cm

Kite 2016 clay, earthenware, 32 x 29cm

Hayley Millar-Baker

Untitled (The best means, of caring for, and dealing with them in the future) 2018

Untitled (So he mixed arsenic with half the flour and a raging thirst was created) 2018

Untitled (The theft of the White men’s sheep) 2018 inkjet on cotton, 80 x 100cm each

The image is not nothing (Concrete Archives), ACE Open, installation image.