Experience the colonial Homestead like never before, as Bidjara artist Christian Thompson inhabits the Boyds’ music room.
Polari is the subcultural nineteenth century language of actors, sex workers and criminals. Thompson’s performative photographs play with the notion of disguise and suggest a shifting personal and sexual identity. The acclaimed work flows from his research into an archive of historical photographs of Aboriginal people held at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.
Thompson’s Trinity series from Polari will be accompanied by the video Refuge where the artist sings in the Bidjara language.
Opening: Saturday 24 September at Siteworks 2016.
Image: Christian Thompson, Trinity I, from the series Polari, 2014
Christian Thompson is an Australian born, London-based contemporary artist whose work explores notions of identity, cultural hybridity & history. Formally trained as a sculptor, Thompson’s multidisciplinary practice engages mediums such as photography, video, sculpture, performance & sound. His work focuses on the exploration of identity, sexuality, gender, race and memory. In his live performances and conceptual portraits he inhabits a range of personas achieved through handcrafted costumes & carefully orchestrated poses & backdrops. In 2010 Thompson made history when he became the first Aboriginal Australian to be admitted into the University of Oxford in its 900-year history. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (Fine Art), Trinity College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, Master of Theatre, Amsterdam School of Arts, Das Arts, The Netherlands, Masters of Fine Art (Sculpture) RMIT University and Honours (Sculpture) RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. His works are held in major international and national collections.
