'Dispossessed' by Alice Hinton-Bateup
Object No. 86/1147-3
This Dispossessed poster, produced at Garage Graphix in western Sydney by Alice Hinton-Bateup during the 1980s, protests against the continued forced movement of Aboriginal people from their homes and the forced break of connection with land and people. It incorporates the last photograph taken of Harriet Waters, the great-grandmother of Aboriginal author and curator, James Wilson-Miller. Garage Graphix was an important community arts workshop at Mt Druitt in Western Sydney where women artists and designers, including and often led by the Aboriginal participants, addressed community and Aboriginal issues and key concerns like the ones addressed in this poster. "Garage Graphix Community Arts Group (1980-96) operated in Mt Druitt, a western Sydney suburb with a high Indigenous population. Although the group is described as a 'majority female' collective, poster accreditations reveal only women's names. The collective followed 'affirmative action principles' for the employment and training of women, including Indigenous women (Hall c.1998, 12). Many collectives promoted Indigenous land rights, yet Garage Graphix was possibly the only collective to include Indigenous Australians in its core membership." (1) The Community Arts Board (CAB) of the Australia Council and the Community Cultural Development Board (CCDB) of the Australia Council played a national role in supporting community-based screen printing workshops like Garage Graphix, Red Letter, Another Planet, Lucifoil and other community workshops. These bodies also encouraged and supported community-based sponsor organizations to produce posters. CAB and CCDB programs were artist-focused initially, then became community-focused. Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator, October 2014 Reference: (1) Louise Mayhew, Jillposters Will Be Prosecuted: Australia's women-only print collectives from the 1970s and 1980s. http://fourcolouredstripes.blogspot.com.au/2011_05_01_archive.html (Accessed 2/10/2014) See also: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/insidethecollection/2014/07/naidoc-week-6-13-july-2014/
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Summary
Object Statement
Poster (1 of 2), 'Dispossessed', ink on paper, designed and printed by Alice Hinton-Bateup at Garage Graphix, Mt Druitt, New South Wales, Australia, 1985 -1986
Physical Description
Poster, 'Dispossessed', ink on paper, silkscreened poster titled "Dispossessed" with an eight line legend which reads, "Dispossessed / Every time Aboriginals are / forced to move because of / poverty, harassment or white / housing policy we lose more / of our connection to the land / and our people. / So we travel through halfway / places in our own land" printed onto poster "designed and printed by Alice Hinton / Garage Graphix", poster printed in yellow, ochre, red, green, blue, brown and black on white paper, background with hand drawn map and photographic insets featuring an elderly Aboriginal woman and a child in a suburban yard, a brown snake with Aboriginal motifs overlays the images, work titled in red.
DIMENSIONS
Height
495 mm
Width
750 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
Alice Hinton-Bateup has entwined the following words into the poster: "Dispossessed. Every time Aboriginals are forced to move because of poverty, harassment or white housing policy we lose more of our connection to the land and our people. So we travel through halfway places in our own land." The poster was designed and printed by Alice Hinton-Bateup for Garage Graphix in Western Sydney during the 1980s.
HISTORY
Notes
This poster was displayed in the Urban Koories Exhibition of Urban Aboriginal Art at the Workshop Arts Centre, Willoughby in 1985, and purchased by the Museum in 1986. James Wilson-Miller also provide history notes for this object: "The designer of this poster, Alice Hinton-Bateup, is a cousin of mine. We share the same great, grandmother, Harriet Waters, the elderly lady in this poster. I personally took this image of our great grandmother in early February or March 1961 when I'd just turned twelve years old. The cartography is also mine. It was taken from my book, Koori: A Will To Win (p.13) published by Angus and Robertson in 1985 (p.13). I was never asked or consulted to grant my cousin permission for publication within this poster." James Wilson-Miller, Curator, October 2013 "Recently, I learned via James Wilson-Millers book that Harriet Waters is my Great Great Grandmother, and that her image was recorded in a photograph in his book. That 'Eureka' moment of excitement was matched at seeing Harriet portrayed for posterity in the lovely poster by Alice Hinton-Bateup. Harriet's daughter (my Great Grandmother Ethel) married Frederick Lester, who enlisted for the Great War, along with his brother Augustus Lester and nephew Alister Lester. I was proud to loan their military photos to Katanning Senior High School for NAIDOC, which focused on Aboriginal service in WW1." Steven Bowes, blog comment, on 'NAIDOC Week 6-13 July 2014', Inside the Collection, 31 October 2014
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