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PAINTING THE “SOFT KNIFE”: HARRY WEDGE'S COLONIAL CANVAS
Author(s) -
MACDONALD GAYNOR
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
visual anthropology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.346
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1548-7458
pISSN - 1058-7187
DOI - 10.1525/var.2005.21.1-2.98
Subject(s) - colonialism , painting , constitution , history , art history , art , law , archaeology , political science
Harry Wedge is an artist from Cowra in central New South Wales. A Wiradjuri man, his people's history as colonial subjects has seen them confined to small residential reserves on the outskirts of country towns. Employed for over a century within the pastoral industry, Wiradjuri people have also suffered the brunt of its recent economic collapse. Harry started painting a decade ago in a highly distinctive “naïve” style. His paintings examine colonial history, Aboriginal/non‐Aboriginal interactions and everyday life on Cowra's Erambie Aboriginal Reserve. This paper reflects on Harry and his work from a social/cultural perspective, looking at the ways in which Harry's paintings interpret, reflect and reconstitute the meanings of this history for him and others in his local community and kin network. Rather than place Harry within the “art world,” I draw on my field‐based knowledge of his people and their history to examine the ways in which Harry's work impacts on his constitution of himself and significant others who share his experience as a Wiradjuri man, as well as its impact on myself as anthropologist .