Image above: Simon Normand Map – Australia 2023 acrylic on canvas and mixed media 145 x 170 cm
Simon Normand’s thought-provoking exhibition, Teaspoon Colony has been reviewed by Stephen Brook for The Age, and Paul de Vries for Nikkei Asia
The artist was also interviewed on ABC Radio by presenter Alice Zaslavsky.
To listen to Simon’s fascinating interview, visit ABC listen: Sculptor Simon Normand on his new exhibition Teaspoon Colony – ABC listen
Simon Normand, Australian Galleries Melbourne. Photography: Simon Schulter for The Age
“Teaspoon Colony uses 24 giant mosaic and steel forged teaspoons examines our colonial settlements and their disturbing histories. It all started when he found one depicting a bulldozer tearing through forest at Cann River. That sent Simon on a journey to find the darker truths behind the glitzy depictions on the tops of teaspoons, which very rarely acknowledged First Nations history of the places they represented.” – Stephen Brooks, The Age.
To read the full article in The Age online click here
Image above: Simon Normand’s teaspoon collection, featured in Nikkei Asia, courtesy of the artist
“Little things can speak with a voice that is disproportionately loud. Take the example of the Australian souvenir teaspoon. In the 1950s and 1960s, decorative teaspoons including images of the locations where they were bought were ubiquitous souvenirs. These teaspoons comprise a time capsule of an era gone by. What do they say? I had never really thought about it until I came across the teaspoon collection of Melbourne-based artist Simon Normand…
As his teaspoon collection grew, Normand began to examine the often-gaping void between the images portrayed and the historical reality as it applied to First Nations Australians.” – Paul de Vries for Nikkei Asia.
To read the full article in Nikkei Asia click here
In the Arnhem Land community of Ngukurr, elder Clarry Rogers is worried plans to allocate water to new gas fracking and cotton industries could damage his important dreaming and bush tucker sites along the Roper River.
“I’m pretty concerned about it, that’s why we want to [have] our voice heard, I know cotton takes a lot of water,” he said. “The level of the water [we believe] could drop and then we’ll be suffering because we won’t be getting any flows from the Roper.” Other Indigenous communities along the river’s 300 kilometres, in its 81,000 square kilometre catchment, are also concerned.
A group has banded together to raise attention to the issue, commissioning Melbourne artist Simon Normand to paint a 13-metre map petition of the river. Ngukurr elder, Robin Rogers, said he said he felt the images were more powerful than words. “That maps tells everything, it’s just like a bible,” he said. “It’s the map of the dreamings, like kangaroo, mermaid and goanna. “So white men can understand what we’re talking about.”
Mr Normand travelled through communities including Ngukurr, Jilkminggan and Minyerri, to ask traditional owners what dreamings they would like added to the map.
“The main thing we’re trying to show is that it’s a united voice,” he said.
“It’s really about the communities having the opportunity to voice their belief system in a way that shows the connection to country in such a huge region. “There’s eight different language groups all represented on the one river, and I think that’s why it’s so powerful.”
Clarry Rogers said the group would present the Roper River map to federal ministers in Canberra.
“When it’s all finished and it’s ready to be presented to the federal government, I’m willing to go to Canberra with Simon and other traditional owners from the area that we’re supposed to be looking after,” he said. “We will be talking to the politicians and explaining that it will affect us if the water is taken from the Roper, that we will suffer.”
Read the full article here.
Sourced: www.abc.net.au
For further information visit territoryrivers.org.au
Australian Galleries is thrilled to announce that Simon Normand will be exhibiting an extensive new body of work for the first time with our Melbourne gallery in February 2024.
Please email melbourne@australiangalleries.com.au with all enquiries.