duality - Asher Milgate exhibition catalogue

GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE REGIONAL GALLERY

list of works

bio

A river’s genesis now called Hastings, 2019

Love my culture, 2019

The land tells the story, 2019

British subjects, 2019

Nostalgically contemplating Cook in 2020, 2019

Tresspassed discovery 1818, 2019

Now now little Brother, 2019

We are connected, 2019

Should have ‘Spokes’ lived?, 2019

What am I to do?, 2019

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

Asher Milgate’s practice responds to the historic ‘Australian’ identity and its dual history. Drawing from dual histories, Milgate discusses the intersection of colonisation and

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

the ongoing challenges for Aboriginal people as a result.

Milgate’s work is a transferal of history of lived experiences

Footprints for milennia, 2019

echoed through photography, video, installation and sound

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

recordings. Milgate seeks to engage the public’s interest in the breath of the ‘Australian’ landscape, through diversity, similarity

Give me land…Don't fence me in, 2019

and dual perspectives.

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

Let's talk, let's listen, 2019

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

The forest floor cares for its dead, 2019

100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

Asher Milgate has exhibited in multiple solo and group shows in Sydney, Newcastle and regional NSW including a solo exhibition at the Western Plain Cultural Centre, Dubbo in 2015. He is the founder of Survivors project, Wellington, NSW. Oral historian and Photographer, The Cooks River? The Cooks River Aboriginal Oral History Project, 2017. He has received numerous awards and has works in the collection of Orange Regional Museum and in numerous private collections throughout Australia and internationally.

asher milgate

duality 7 March - 19 April 2020

GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE REGIONAL GALLERY Gallery Curator: Bridget Purtill

Special Thanks to the Glasshouse team for all their efforts and

Graphic Design: Marie Taylor

collaborations to make this exhibition successful.

Catalogue Printing: Chrysalis Printing

A Glasshouse Gallery Initiative

Text Copyright: Bridget Purtill and Sandy Edwards.

Images courtesy of the artist © Glasshouse Regional Gallery 2020

duality

The Glasshouse Regional Gallery is supported but Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and the NSW Government through Create NSW.

Cnr Clarence & Hay Streets Port Macquarie 02 6581 8888 info@glasshouse.org.au glasshouse.org.au

This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research, study or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part

GALLERY OPENING HOURS

on show 7 March - 19 April 2020

may be reproduced by any process without permission. Enquiries should

Tue - Fri: 10am - 5pm

Cover image: The forest floor cares for its dead, 2019, 100 x 100,

be made to Glasshouse Regional Gallery.

Sat - Sun: 10am - 4pm Public Holidays: 10am - 4pm

medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

Printed on recycled paper

Government Sponsors

Now now little brother,

2019, 100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminum

Red valley divided, 2019, 100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminum

The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW

Founding Sponsors

introduction It is with great pleasure that the Glasshouse Regional Gallery

duality Asher Milgate

presents duality, an exhibition by artist Asher Milgate.

Asher Milgate is a multimedia artist who throughout his practice

Oxley (1784-1828) and Thomas Dick (1877 - 1927) for example.

Photography is one of European culture’s methods of recording

local schoolteachers. After leaving Wellington as a young man,

artistic experiences for our community and visitors to our region.

realisations about the indigenous culture had subconsciously

duality is a personal interaction with our local landscape,

been absorbed and reverberated within him. He could see the

retracing history through the eyes of many who had tread before,

ongoing prominence of the Binjang clan of the strong Wiradjuri

observing and documenting how human intervention has

nation within the town. This experience has made a lasting

changed its original state, whilst contemplating what the local

influential imprint on his work as an artist.

area and culture would have looked like before the colonial shift.

Dubbo, consisted of intimate black and white, life-size close ups

the area’s bicentenary, (200 years since John Oxley surveyed the

of Aboriginal elders who grew up on Nanima Mission at The

region for early European settlement) our conversations were

Common, Bell River Flats. In addition to the photograph, each

focused on how to create a dual focus on this very sensitive

elder was recorded remembering life on the mission (the earliest

area’s history. Exploring with fresh eyes, Asher ventured to the

inland mission in NSW est. 1832).

attention to the dual perspective of the indigenous ancestors

acknowledge and to be guided by. For example publications

and the Europeans settlers. One cannot look at a map in Australia

such as ‘Birrpai Beyond the lens of Thomas Dick’, 2018 by author

to find Aboriginal place names, coexisting alongside European

and Port Macquarie local John Heath.

names. These images reveal many subtle and gross signs of

one hundred kilometers to the west, north and south of Port

Survivors, (2015), exhibited at Western Plains Cultural Centre,

the Hastings landscape and stories in a contemporary way. With

Through intense colour infrared photographs he directs our

history are very different. There are indigenous historians to to

land, Milgate set out with a map of the area approximately

of storytelling - part historian, part photographer. His series

to life through a series of conversations on how to document

history, however indigenous traditions of passing down

Determined to make visible the Aboriginal presence in the

Throughout his career Milgate has developed an effective form

As an artist in resident in 2019, Asher’s exhibition duality came

The dryly-titled Cooks River? (2017), exhibited at Bankstown Art Centre, confirms Milgates commitment to making contemporary Aboriginal stories with connection to place visible, by bringing the river alive through employing colour and environmental

Macquarie and followed the length of the Hastings River (known

Shot with infrared film and recorded landscapes, duality flips

of the colonisation of Australia. It was named (by Oxley) after the Governor of NSW, Lachlan Macquarie. The town was founded as a penal settlement in 1821 when Newcastle became unviable in

portraiture. Commissioned by Cooks River Alliance and the

its role as a second offence centre, because it had lost its sense of isolation due to expanding settlement. This shared history is something we are all living with. There is deep cultural resistance to recognising this history fully. Artists like Milgate are working in a thought-provoking way asking non-indigenous Australians to open their hearts and minds to the lessons of the landscape and

and non-indigenous artist-photographer collaborations,

allow healing to happen. duality reveals a vital story of Australian

documenting indigenous communities and featuring a friend, a

our local landscape. It was an absolute pleasure to get to know Asher during his residency and throughout the development of this exhibition.

Wiradjuri man from Wellington, Jeff Amatto and his very personal

history before and after white settlement.

story of survival and hardship of substance addiction. This work

In Asher Milgate’s words (talking about his formative experiences

was a finalist in the Incinerator Prize 2018. Each of these projects

I would also like to extend a massive thank you to Sandy

in Wellington, NSW),

confirming Milgate’s dedication to uncovering stories through

Edwards, Curator/Producer at ARTHERE Photography Project

“What I learnt most was to listen, I mean really listen. Deep

exploring place and the stories they hold.

Services, Sydney for her insights in the following essay.

listening is what you’d call it. Listening, hearing and feeling

As Artist in Residence, at The Glasshouse Regional Gallery in

Bridget Purtill

Port Macquarie, 2019, Milgate singles out the landscape around

Gallery Curator

Port Macquarie. He carries with him the perspective of his

Glasshouse Regional Gallery

background and further develops his deep commitment

the stories relayed to you. Letting them wash over you and flow through you. I also learnt that I knew very little about the Aboriginal experience. I’ve just been given glimpses.”

Sandy Edwards

to see improvement in the understanding of indigenous issues

Curator/Producer www.arthere.com.au

in Australia.

BRIDGET PURTILL Should have ‘Spokes’ lived?, 2019, 100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminium

The land tells the story, 2019, 100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminum

Aboriginal presence.

Dividing Range.

The 2018 video work A point in time, explored indigenous

I would like to sincerely thank Asher for this incredible insight into

the care and devotion, the songs and ceremonies, of centuries of The history of Port Macquarie is a reminder of the harsh history

Sydney River.

opportunities to reflect, admire and respect all that has been

European farming practices however it still holds the memory of

after the Governor General of India) to its inception in the Great

custodianship felt about this important and valued Western

the known perspective of these landscapes, creating new

interferences to the landscape. Clearly it has been changed by

by the Birpai as Doongang, named Hastings by John Oxley

Federal Government, the work established a strong sense of

before and contemplate what might evolve in the future.

“recorded soundscapes capture the present moments of observation, allowing the landscape to speak, to tell stories of what had been before whilst celebrating the life it now has.”

of his precursors - explorers, surveyors and historians John

primary school alongside Aboriginal peers. His parents were the

providing opportunities to develop new work and present quality

landscapes that presented itself on his path.

documenter. As a white Australian he follows in the footsteps

Milgate grew up in Wellington, central western NSW, going to

commitment to supporting contemporary Australian artists,

Immersing, listening and documenting the undulating and varied

combination of historical researcher, journalist and poetic

has prioritised the power of the photographic document.

This exhibition continues the Glasshouse Regional Gallery’s

outer edges of the land, crossing mountains, rivers and sand.

It is not surprising that Milgate’s role in duality has been a

Love my culture, 2019, 100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminum

Footprints for millennia, 2019, 100 x 100cm, medium format, infrared film, dye sublimation on aluminum