Updated
(Newsline)
Australian artists are showcasing the rebel spirit of bushranger Ned Kelly to a Singapore audience which traditionally frowns upon rebellion.
In a country where spray painting a wall normally leads to trouble, Australian artist Regan Tamanui has taken a wall at the Australian High Commission for his canvas.
He’s painting Australia’s most controversial hero, the bushranger Ned Kelly.
“I started doing images of Ned Kelly over ten years ago on the streets of Melbourne, and over the years the stencils developed into bigger and more multilayered stencils.” he said.
“My artwork, all of the exhibition is a celebration of ned kelly as an Australian icon.
“He’s just about a great ancestor of every Australian.”
The 19th century outlaw is part of Australian folklore, notorious to this day for robbery and murder, but also for standing up to authority.
He was captured and hanged in 1880 and his remains were only reburied with his family earlier this year
His legend, and his distinctive helmet, have long captured the attention of Australian artists such as Sidney Nolan and Adam Cullen, both colourful characters in their own right.
Photo:
Ned Kelly on the day before his execution, November 10, 1880. (National Archives of Australia)
Photo:
Bushranger Ned Kelly’s helmet at the State Library of Victoria. (AAP)
Photo:
Drawing of bushranger Ned Kelly being led to the gallows to be hanged at the Old Melbourne Gaol on November 11, 1880. (Reuters: Old Melbourne Gaol)
Photo:
Sidney Nolan’s painting titled, Ned Kelly – Outlaw. (AFP)
Photo:
Burial site excavated by Heritage Victoria at the former Pentridge Prison site in Melbourne, that was thought to have the remains of Ned Kelly, March 2008. (AAP: Heritage Victoria, file photo)
Photo:
The Story of the Kelly Gang, made in 1906 and filmed in Melbourne, is recognised in the film industry as being the first feature film ever made. (fanpop.com)
Photo:
The face mask of Ned Kelly at the time of his death in November 1880. (AAP: Julian Smith)
Photo:
Police mugshot of Ned Kelly, aged 16, circa 1871. (Reuters: Old Melbourne Gaol)
Photo:
One of the cartridges found during the digging of a test trench at Glenrowan, the scene of Ned Kelly’s last stand, on May 9, 2008. (Narelle Graham: ABC News)
Photo:
Mick Jagger stars as Ned Kelly in the 1970 movie, Ned Kelly. (fromthebarrelhouse.wordpress.com)
Photo:
Armour worn by Ned Kelly, 1879 from State Library of Victoria. Part of the Irish in Australia exhibition. (State Library of Victoria: Supplied photo:)
Photo:
The skeleton that was confirmed to be that of bushranger Ned Kelly, September 1, 2011. (AAP: Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine)
Photo:
Mourners carry the coffin of bushranger Ned Kelly during a funeral service at St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Wangaratta in Victoria, Friday, January 18, 2012, 132 years after his death. (AAP: Paul Jeffers)
Gallery:
Australia’s fascination with the Ned Kelly story
In this new exhibition in Singapore, some artists look at Ned Kelly in a slightly different way.
For Australian artists like Sculptor Camie Lyons, the spirit of Ned Kelly is also a story of Australian frontier living.
“All these are cast eucalypt in gum branches. And all these marks here of wrapped twine and old bits of fabric, things that they would have used.
Almost 150 years after Ned Kelly’s death, and the mythology around Australia’s most famous bushranger remains controversial, with some arguing his violent nature should not be celebrated.
Melanie McCollin-Walker says for many artists, his rebellious spirit has a universal appeal.
“Everybody’s got a little bit of a rebel inside of them, and it’s just nice to come to a place and have it speak nice and loudly in a place that’s a little bit more controlled,” she said.
Singapore is a country where criminal folk heroes are nowhere to be found, and where there’s significant respect for authority.
Ned Kelly has long divided opinions in Australia, it seems likely the untamed spirit of 19th century Australia will divide opinions in 21st century Singapore as well.
Art Consultant Jane Shishido says an exhibition about Ned Kelly might say a lot about Australia, but the reaction to it here might say something about Singapore’s changing attitudes too.
“Singaporeans are very sensitive when it comes to history about themselves – but when it’s in the context of another country or another person they’re very comfortable,” she said.
“The younger Singaporeans very different – they would probably actually love this – in fact they’d find it very cool.”
Topics:
contemporary-art,
history,
human-interest,
singapore,
australia,
asia
First posted
Australian artists showcase bushranger Ned Kelly in Singapore exhibition
0 comments:
Post a Comment