vivonne thwaites
curator
therese ritchie
Family, One Mile Dam, 2011
12 colour inkjet print on Hahnenuhle Photo Rag 308gsm100% cotton, ed 1/5
70 x 120 cm
Adelaide House, Todd Mall, 2011
12 colour inkjet print on Hahnenuhle Photo Rag 308gsm100% cotton, ed 1/5
50 x 134cm
Simon says, 2011
12 colour inkjet print on Hahnenuhle Photo Rag 308gsm100% cotton, ed 1/5
40 x 140cm
One Mile Dam, Darwin, Northern Territory
On 26th March 1979 after a long struggle Aboriginal campers at One Mile Dam won land rights to 3.12 hectares of inner-city land in Darwin (now prime real estate). Since 1996 the community has lived under threat of eviction by successive CLP and Labor NT Governments. In addition, One Mile Dam (OMD) is now subject to discriminatory federal government powers under the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (the ‘NT Intervention’).
therese ritchie
RITCHIE, Therese. MA (Visual Arts) Charles Darwin University (2005), BA (Fine Arts) Northern Territory University (1985). Based in Darwin Ritchie is a photographer and graphic designer of twenty years standing whose work is born of all she has witnessed and experienced in the “paradise of sadness” that is the Northern Territory. Her work is described as going “beyond photo-journalism or biographical documentary. She goes where other image-makers of the Northern Territory frontier have rarely dared to venture: into a heart of darkness of our own making.” She is represented in the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Supreme Court of the Northern Territory Art Collection, Artbank, National Gallery of Australia, Flinders University Art Museum, Araluen Collections and private collections in Australia and abroad.
She sees her work as very personal in its attempt to solidify the very moments, which best describe the contradictions and consequences of her culture's largely unchallenged racist character.
Of her works Adelaide House, Todd Mall and Simon says, 2011, Therese says: “They are part of an ongoing documentation of the nuances of human interaction seen through the observation of day-to-day activities and relationships that are played out in a shared environment.
Whether it is an ordinary, uncontrived activity such as a stroll on the beach, or an organised cultural event where tourists are dropped off at the end of Alice Springs’ Todd Mall at the same time every day; or painted up and taught to dance outside the Casino in Darwin; it is how people candidly communicate and relate within the context of these activities that are very telling. These moments in time—with their illogical and inconsistent elements laying alongside each other—are the production line for hopes and schemes that seem to come to such spectacular grief and form the daily compositions of clash and variance that best describe my experiences of living in the Northern Territory. As an artist they are my source of inspiration and truth. What people do publically and regularly is very telling. It is where the fabric of relationships is being sewn, unpicked, ripped, burnt or cherished.”
Describing her work, One Mile Dam, Darwin, Northern Territory. The residents of One Mile Dam Community remain under a lot of pressure—from both developers and the Territory Government—with access to basic services and infrastructure often obscured by bureaucracy and bad faith. When I asked if there was anything I could do, a resident suggested a family portrait, including living conditions.
We took a lot of shots that morning with the final image directed by the elder woman in the portrait. It was also suggested by a resident that the following text accompany its publication:
“On 26th March 1979 after a long struggle, Aboriginal campers at One Mile Dam won land rights to 3.12 hectares of inner-city land in Darwin (now prime real estate). Since 1996 the community has lived under threat of eviction by successive CLP and Labor NT Governments. In addition, One Mile Dam (OMD) is now subject to discriminatory federal government powers under the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (the ‘NT Intervention’).”
Therese exhibited in a landmark retrospective Not Dead Yet: Therese Ritchie and Chips Mackinolty, (2010), curated by CDU Art Collection and Art Gallery curator Anita Angel. Not Dead Yet featured a comprehensive survey of 164 art works, screenprints, posters, drawings, photographs, digital collage works and limited edition fine art prints and paintings, dating from 1969 (Mackinolty) and 1988 (Ritchie), through to the present day. The exhibition will tour with NETS Victoria late 2012–2013. Therese is also an exhibiting artist in The Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art’s exhibition, Contemporary Australia: Women, curated by Julie Ewington, opening in April 2012.