Undiscovered #4, 2011, Michael Cook
Inkjet print on archival Hahnemuhle cotton paper, 124cm x 100cm
Provenance: Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne.
Of Bidjara heritage, Michael Cook is a photomedia artist who reimagines colonial focused histories into contemporary Indigenous portraits. Reversing historical discrimination, he works to disrupt traditional racial and social expectations. Cook invites viewers to speculate Indigenous cultures living at the forefront, even a majority, rather than manipulated to live within the confines of a white man’s world. Cook’s work has been acquired by institutions including the British Museum, National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Art Gallery of Western Australia, as well as displayed during the 56th Venice Biennale (1).
Undiscovered #4 is part of Michael Cook’s project that reflects upon European settlement in Australia. The series reconsiders the ‘discovery’ of Australia by European settlers and asks the contemporary viewer to reconsider how a land can be discovered when it had been inhabited for thousands of years (2).