Through the fog we may see a different story, each moment contrasting with the next to create a full and complex picture. Contemporary artist, Vic McEwan, reimagines items of historical significance in Haunting, on display at the National Museum of Australia until 30 April.
The striking photographs and videos in the touring exhibition explore the complicated and multifaceted history of agricultural practice and land use in the Murray Darling Basin. It has been created using an experimental method of projecting images of selected items from the Museum’s collection onto the waters of the Murrumbidgee, and into fog, smoke and mist during the dark hours of night.
Created when McEwan was an artist in residence at the institution in 2015, he worked closely with senior curator, Dr George Main. Together, they trawled through the Museum’s extensive collection of objects, selecting those that correlated with matters that interested or were important to the artist. It all came together when they came to the pyramid of William Farrer’s diseased and drought-stricken wheat, the story of how their development led to agricultural growth throughout inland Australia.
“Then thinking about how we celebrate that because we should celebrate it, because it’s amazing, but also because of that it meant we’ve lost a lot of plant species, there was genocide of people,” he says.
McEwan says that while celebrating, we also need to hold space for the other sides of the complex story, to not work in opposition with it and hold them both together. These images have a deep connection to place in the exhibition as the photos and videos in Haunted were captured at William Farrer’s historic Lambrigg property.
“Maybe one of the roles we kind of do through this sort of art making is to try to keep that storytelling alive, keep the emotional aspect of some of these objects still alive,” he says.
With no digital manipulation other than preparation for print, the 65 pieces in the exhibition are as McEwan captured them; the distortion and stories they tell coming from the external elements. He says within a ten-minute span there could be nine images that look completely different.
“Mary Gilmore goes from looking like a little boy in some to a creature to this beautiful lady and she looks like all those things in these different images and that’s fascinating. It’s that thing – we are all multiple things,” says McEwan.
McEwan is the Artistic Director of the Cad Factory, an artist-led organisation which ethically supports artists and their development of new, experimental art. McEwan often focuses on difficult themes of lived experiences, engaging different members from communities.
Whilst heading back to his home in Narrandera one evening, McEwan stopped by Wagga Wagga to see respected Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Fay Clayton Moseley to show her the pieces. It was the video with objects from the railway bridge that stirred deep emotions, Aunty Fay sharing with the artist that when she was a girl, she believed that railway infrastructure was only built to take Aboriginal children away. he told McEwan she had spent her life living in a fog.
“It’s this sort of depth of what Aunty Fay was sharing with us, that despite this perception of living within this fog, she’s such an important leader for her community,” the artist says.
According to McEwan, the conversations while making the works folded into the works, and the seemingly opposing viewpoints came together to make a complex story, which is the essence of the pieces.
Glance through the fog in Haunting at the National Museum of Australia until 30 April; nma.gov.au
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