Opening Event : In Blak And White by Boneta Marie - Mabo

Join us for the exhibition opening of In Blak and White by Boneta-Marie Mabo.

In Blak and White is a series of cyanotype prints by Boneta-Marie Mabo, tracing the systems that have sought to define, control and incarcerate Blak children and families.

Boneta-Marie is a proud Aboriginal Manbarra/Nywaigi and Torres Strait Islander Meriam woman, as well as being of South Sea Islander descent. Walking in the footsteps of her grandfather, the late Eddie Koiki Mabo, she is an activist and passionate prison abolitionist. These perspectives strongly inform her artistic practice.

Using cyanotype, a process of exposure, on teabag paper, the works bring Blak histories into visibility, tracing a colonial continuum from the intimate worlds of mothering and childhood, through the language of “protection” and education, to systems of removal, classification, labour and incarceration.

Stories are steeped into the teabag paper, connecting the works to the familiar presence of tea in many Blak households. Tea carries the entangled histories of colonialism, domesticity, labour, hospitality and survival. Like the teabag, the works hold and contain while allowing stories, memories and histories to be drawn out. Through the material and process, ideas of exposure, containment and extraction become intertwined.

In Blak and White asks us to consider what happens when care becomes control, education becomes labour, people become classifications, and protection becomes incarceration.

The language changes. The logic remains.

Join us first for an artist talk with Boneta-Marie, where she will speak in greater detail about the making of the works and the ideas, histories and meanings that underpin the exhibition.

We’ll then come together to celebrate the official exhibition opening.

Artist Talk: 4:30 - 5:30pm

Exhibition Opening: 5:30 -7:30pm

Aboriginal Art Co Gallery: 1/23 Anthony Street, West End

Free event | RSVPs Essential

We’d love to see you there.

Boneta-Marie Mabo received support from Brisbane City Council via the Creative Sparks Grant for this project.

Aboriginal Art Co receives operational funding from the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and the Australian Government through Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS), with philanthropic support from the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund (ACF).