17th Biennale of Sydney
  • Daniel Crooks, Static No.12 (seek stillness in movement), 2009–10 Detail of HD video (RED transferred to Blu-ray), dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery. Copyright © Daniel Crooks 2009
  • Kutlug Ataman, Mesopotamian Dramaturgies / Journey to the Moon, 2009 (detail), still photography, 31 x 41 cm. Courtesy of Francesca Minini, Milan and the artist
  • Lara Baladi, Perfumes & Bazaar, The Garden of Allah, 2006 (detail), digital collage, 560 x 248 cm, technical production and printing, Factum Arte, Madrid. Courtesy the artist. Copyright Lara Baladi
  • Kataryzana Kozyra, Summertale, 2008 (detail), DVD production still, 20 mins, prod. Zacheta National Gallery of Art Copyright artist, courtesy ZAK I BRANICKA Gallery. Photograph: M. Olivia Soto
  • Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Manet’s Dejeuner sur I’herbe 1862 1863 and the Thai villagers group II, 2008-09 (detail), from ‘The Two Planets Series’, photograph and video, 110 x 100 cm; 16 mins. Courtesy the artist and 100 Tonson Gallery, Bangkok
  • Cai Guo-Qiang, Inopportune: Stage One, 2004 (detail), nine cars and sequenced multichannel light tubes, dimensions variable. Collection of Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Robert M. Arnold, in honour of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum, 2006, installation view at MASS MoCA, North Adams, 2004. Courtesy Cai Studio. Photograph: Hiro Ihara
  • Kent Monkman, The Death of Adonis, 2009 (detail), acrylic on canvas, 182.9 x 304.8 cm. Courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary
  • Christopher Pease, Law of Reflection, 2008–09 (detail), oil on canvas, 123 x 214 cm. Private collection. Courtesy the artist and Goddard de Fiddes, Contemporary Art, Perth. Photograph: Tony Nathan
  • AES+F, The Feast of Trimalchio, 2009 (detail of video still), nine-channel video installation, 19 mins. Courtesy the artists; Triumph Gallery, Moscow; and Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
  • Tsang Kin-Wah, The First Seal – It Would Be Better If You Have Never Been Born…, 2009, digital video projection and sound installation, 6:41 mins, 513 x 513 cm. Courtesy the artist
  • Wang Qingsong, Competition, 2004 (detail), c-print, 170 x 300 cm. Courtesy the artist
  • Mark Wallinger, Hymn, 1997 (detail of video still), video, sound, 4:52 mins, edition of 10 and 1 artist proof. Courtesy Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London

FOLLOW US: Facebook Twitter You Tube Flickr RSS Feed

Up close with Brett Graham



About Brett Graham
Born 1967 in Auckland, New Zealand
Lives and works in Auckland

Sculptor Brett Graham, from the Ngati Koroki sub-tribe of Tainui, explores complex historical, political and cultural ideas, transforming them into compelling artistic statements, often witty and ironic. He works on large-scale projects in varied materials. Here he presents versions of western ‘weapons of mass destruction’, such as Te Hokioi (2008), a Stealth Bomber with its identity reformed by carved Maori symbols, as wellas a new work, Mihaia (2010): a near full-scale Russian BRDM-2 scout car. Just as western nations often appropriate the names of Fourth world peoples for their weapons, indigenous peoples have appropriated the technology of their enemies as ritualistic power symbols. A response to colonisation has been the rise of indigenous millenium cults seeking salvation, and identification with both the lost tribes of Israel and the later plight of Palestinian refuges; the BRDM-2 has been used on both sides of the Middle Eastern conflict.

Bookmark and Share