Migration and Adaptation

The fallout from the clash of views on nature and adaptation, and the ensuing actions to repair and work towards unity and harmony.

Concept palette:

The falling birth rates in Australia and a reliance on migration provide the starting point for this painting. The painting explores the viewpoint that the state of indigenous communities is contributed by the fact their leadership was wiped out during colonisation and replaced with a new type of leadership (government). This begs the question: do we really understand ancient cultures' view of nature and existence (esp in a culture that relies on oral tradition) since their original leaders have been wiped out? Why didn’t Indigenous Australians develop technology? Additional concepts include choosing a national flag.

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A woman takes a seat upon an ancient rock, quite unaware of how the land shapes the creatures and indeed, the people.  An indigenous child stands beside her, he is orphaned in the sense that the original leaders of his tribe were wiped out upon the arrival of the new migrants. She comes from a myriad of homelands where nature is subservient to humans. In her world, humans create artificial surroundings to suit them, not adapt to the natural environment nor let it shape them.

Aspects of her homelands gradually fade, but still they remain; from the head scarf to the pottu to the red hair (which is shielded from the sun by technology to separate herself from the environment so she can maintain her original identities).

She feels she is evolved enough to not have children of her own and focuses her attention on unity, to build a single harmonious community. She births a flag instead, something to unite all her different homelands. The redness that unites us all will become the flag. She draws in the indigenous orphan too, to help him integrate into the modern way of living. She is about to place the pinnacle of technology (the helmet) to align him to the modern understanding of life and nature. The helmet can directly stimulate the reward centres of the brain in a sustainable way, to keep us always happy. The natural cost of the technology appears as a crack in the rock and division of the beach.

The orphan is in two minds, he misses his mother and his ancient leaders and wants to join the larger, newcomers, but there's an element of doubt about his relationship to nature. He points to the lizard, to say that nature is already inside us all (the reptilian brain in us driving the development of technology for such goals as comfort and convenience). So the helmet is not actually evolving us, but simply satisfying the primitive aspects of us (the lizard or reptilian brain). It is easy to forget that nature drives us, those primal instincts many times subtly pushing and pulling us to shape our behaviour through feelings.

The orphan also points to a giant golden arm, which represents leadership or the influence that directs the aspirations of members in a society towards higher goals. The gold depicts the visibility (or popularity) of artists/celebrities who set the aspirations for the people, and often such celebrities direct our lives more powerfully than governments. 

The roo is depicted without skin (it is without race) making it of no threat to the frilled lizard (the frill is collapsed). This arrangement depicts the relatively steady and harmonious state in ecology that may have existed prior to the arrival of new migrants who dramatically affected the environment. Bones lie in place of the kangaroo's pouch – to symbolise its loss of the joey and its bleak future. 

The evolutionary ladder is represented by the different positions of the lizard, kangaroo, technology (the helmet) and of course the two humans. 

It is unclear as to what that highest aspiration should be, as the golden arm and the finger are seemingly pointing at the kangaroo. So the question remains, what is the ultimate point of evolution, what is the design of the most adapted creature?

Read more of the description of the painting, Government and Coming Ashore for a continuation of this theme.