Artist’s exploration of frontier violence is sobering and inspiring
A new exhibition at the State Library of Queensland explores frontier violence in colonial Australia and the proud story of the Kalkadoons.
Frontier violence in colonial Australia is a rather inconvenient truth for some, but one that has to be faced. Artist Colleen Sam does that in the most compelling way in a powerful exhibition at the State Library of Queensland.
The unbroken spirit of the Kalkadoons showcases artwork and personal narratives that explore the resilience of the Kalkadoon people of North West Queensland and the continuation of their culture. The exhibition shares Sam’s family story through paintings, digital stories and archival materials. Research for the exhibition through State Library collections has also uncovered new historical knowledge about events in and around Mount Isa.
Since the frontier violence in the Kalkadoon/Mount Isa region of Queensland, the Sam family has passed down their stories of survival in secret.
These stories follow the family’s journey of survival from the first contact in the 1850s through to the 1900s, highlighting key figures such as Kalkadoon senior law keepers King Jimmy and Queen Nellie, along with the resilient warrior Wild Harry, a survivor of the Battle Mountain.
These stories include accounts of massacres, Kalkadoon resistance and frontier battles. Some of these stories of resilience and survival are being shared publicly for the first time.
“Culture creates that sense of self and that strength – not only emotional strength but spiritual strength as well,” Sam says. “My aunties, my uncles, my mum – they all had a part to play in all the traditional knowledge and it flows into my artwork.”
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She says her mother, Aunty Ena, would gather the children at night and tell them stories about the land and their ancestors.
“Mum said, ‘You will listen to these stories because if you don’t know your stories, you’ll never know your Country’.”
The exhibition builds on its first iteration at Logan Art Gallery, with the State Library of Queensland working with the Sam family to develop new stories, artworks and learning resources. SLQ’s Sophie Chapman worked on the Logan show and is exhibition producer on this iteration, which is much broader.
“It’s navigating through some complicated themes,” Chapman says. “I said to Colleen – how did you have the strength to survive? She said – we always had our culture and our spiritual connection to the land.”
‘There’s a healing and learning space to reflect on the heaviness of the material but also to celebrate the survival of culture’
SLQ First Nations curator Serene Fernando says it is the library’s job to tell historical stories such as this.
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“Colleen sees this exhibition as an opportunity for growth,” Fernando says. “There’s a healing and learning space to reflect on the heaviness of the material but also to celebrate the survival of culture. The Sam family see themselves as having left war-torn country where they couldn’t live because of the violence and racism. They found a home and safety in Logan.”
The central display in the exhibition is a wrap-around screen that gives a 360-degree view of Sam’s art, animated to tell the story of her country. This three-minute video work features the central motif, the Black Cockatoo, the Kalkadoon (or Kalkadunga) peoples’ first ancestral totem.
The animated video is a scene on the Leichhardt River near which the Black Cockatoo first emerged from the dreaming. It highlights the importance of the natural resources and elements – there is thunder and lightning and rain. It highlights the fact that the Kalkadoon people are responsible for and are guardians of their own ancestral lores, sacred elements and tribal boundaries.
While some of Sam’s larger canvases feature symbols and motifs, a suite of smaller works running along one wall tell the dramatic story of what happened to her people. These small, figurative, slightly naïve paintings reminded me of Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly Series, paintings in which he tells, via a visual narrative, the dramatic tale of the famous bushranger.
Sam’s works tell an equally dramatic, somewhat shameful story. Videos of the artist and her mum telling their stories are also playing as you take in this stirring exhibition.
State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald says visitors “will experience the quiet courage of the Sam family over four generations”.
“It is an act of bravery to share personal stories and State Library thanks the Sam family for this gift,” McDonald says.
The unbroken spirit of the Kalkadoons continues at the State Library of Queensland, South Bank, until August 24. Free admission.
slq.qld.gov.au/discover/exhibitions/unbroken-spirit-kalkadoons