2020 IB Extended Essays

Dale Harding Dale Harding, a descendant of the Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal (located in Central Queensland), connects his work through his knowledge of country to present

using what many refer to as a ‘cultural continuum’. He creates sculptures,

installations and wall murals which explore both political and personal family histories. Harding uses the production of his works to maintain a sense of identity as

an Indigenous person and assist the success of today’s youth who are impacted by

the trans-generational trauma to which they are predisposed. Using the knowledge he has gathered from language, cultural practices, repatriation with family and conversations with fellow artists like Warraba Weatherall, Harding has been seemingly inspired to create eloquent pieces of work ( Dale Harding discusses his incredible year - QAGOMA Blog, 2017 ). On many of his canvases, pigments are sprayed over the top of objects or body parts to imitate their silhouette. Harding references this technique which was used by his ancestors who interfaced bodies

and objects into a wall much like a canvas. Harding’s contemporary version of the

traditional artistic performance produces a mode of abstraction in each gesture, technique, construct and pigment which merges Indigenous and non-Indigenous art histories with personal recollections.

In the richly textured and layered work titled Reckitt’s Blue, Harding uses the

relationship between a sculptural object and his own body to explore a fuller version of Australian history from Indigenous (pre-European), to colonial, to contemporary

times. In the mid 19th century the ultramarine pigmented laundry whitener, Reckitt’s

Blue was introduced to Indigenous artworks where it remains visible on historic clubs