The Forgotten Wars II
The Forgotten Wars I and II are a collaborative series of drawings on photographic prints between Non Indigenous Australian artist Laura Wills and Indigenous Australian photographer James Tylor. Their work investigates the idea of mapping, conflict and colonialism. The second series presents photographs of the rural Australian landscapes taken by Tylor. Wills has overlaid into the photographs with drawings influenced by colonial war illustrations of conflict and battle. Also referenced are colonial war, survey town and mining maps from the British Parliamentary papers and Commissioners reports on the colonisation of Australia. This collaborative project between an Indigenous and a Non-Indigenous Australian artist helps to find a way to decolonise the telling of stories about Australian frontier wars in mainstream society in Australia.
Both series alludes to the story of the Australian frontier wars. The Australian Frontier wars were a series of armed conflicts, massacres and battles that took place from 1788 to 1930’s between the invading British Government and Aboriginal Australians. During the wars the British Government dispossessed Indigenous Australians of their land, removing them to asylums, missions or reserves. They were stripped of traditional culture, replacing it with English language, British culture and Christianity. This process of the British colonisation of Australian and the treatment of indigenous Australians was documented in the British Parliamentary papers and Commissioners reports on the colonisation of Australia.
Both series alludes to the story of the Australian frontier wars. The Australian Frontier wars were a series of armed conflicts, massacres and battles that took place from 1788 to 1930’s between the invading British Government and Aboriginal Australians. During the wars the British Government dispossessed Indigenous Australians of their land, removing them to asylums, missions or reserves. They were stripped of traditional culture, replacing it with English language, British culture and Christianity. This process of the British colonisation of Australian and the treatment of indigenous Australians was documented in the British Parliamentary papers and Commissioners reports on the colonisation of Australia.
