Fiona FoleyAboriginal Artist

Topic : Cultural Warriors

• Week 1 – Fiona Foley Biography

• Week 2 – Fiona Foley Art Practice

• Week 3 – Fiona Foley Frames & Conceptual Framework

• What is a Cultural Warrior?

Cultural Warrior : Definition

• Warriors – what / whom are these cultural warriors fighting against?• The mainstream, the establishment, the

uneducated, the uninformed.

• These artist warriors are going on the attackas much as defending their culture.

• They are attacking the ignorance of the general non-indigenous population – raise their awareness, bring them a knowledge of the concealed (deliberately or otherwise) forgotten and whitewashed histories.

Bibliography

• Australian Aboriginal, born Maryborough, Queensland 1964

• Grew up in Hervey Bay and Sydney

• Certificate of Arts at East Sydney Technical College in 1983

• Bachelor of Visual Arts at Sydney College of Arts in 1986

• Diploma of Education at the University of Sydney in 1987

Why Foley is aCultural Warrior

• My work today is driven by my custodial responsibilities to my land, Fraser Island and my political existence as an Indigenous person of Australia.

Aboriginal Background

• Fiona Foley is one of Australia’s best known Aboriginal artists and as artist of international repute.

• Her people, the Batdjala, are the original inhabitants of Fraser Island, north of Brisbane.

History of Fraser Island

• The island of K’gari or Thoorgine, as it was known by its inhabitants, came to the attention of colonial Queenslanders with the shipwreck there in 1836 of the Stirling Castle.

• The Captain’s wife, Eliza Fraser, survived and subsequently lied in captivity for six months with the Aboriginal inhabitants.

The Batdjala People’s History

• Many Batdjala people were enslaved by colonial rule, physical violence, disease, and starvation.

• Her traditional society is now in ruins as many of people were massacred or forcibly removed from their ancestral land.

• In 2004, an Aboriginal man named Cameron Doomadgee died in police custody on Palm Island.

Foley Talks : Part One

The Gender Essay

• Things that were done well• Over all good spelling and grammar.

• Good essay structure.

• Great observational skills.

• Good interpretations.

• Things that need improvement• Answering the question and staying on track, as well as linking

back to the question.

• Spelling of artist’s names.

• Reliable resources.

• Referencing artworks, artists and sources correctly.

• Making informed and educated links with strong justifications.

Practice Essay

• We’ll be writing an essay together in class, writing a paragraph or two each lesson.

• Breaking down the process, and focusing on referencing and making justified arguments.

• All answering the same question using the same resources.

New Rule for Essays

• Exactly a week before it is due, you must have a draft copy Emailed to me as a .doc/.docx/.pdffile.

• This will make sure no one leaves any written assessments to the last second and each of you gets some feedback to get the best possible score.• Eg. If the Assessment is due on Week

10, Wednesday, you must have a full draft of the essay emailed to me on Wednesday of Week 9.