A Sorrowful Act: The Wreck of the Zewijk

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BACKGROUND: This project examines how practice-led creative research methodologies can interrogate objects, archives, and events connected to historical injustices to reframe and recontextualise queer histories which have been systematically excluded from dominant archives. Building upon existing methodologies related to archival practices (Foucault, Derrida) and archival art practices more specifically (Foster, Azoulay), primary source material was collected, collated, and examined to generate new artworks in response to a specific queer historical event.

CONTRIBUTION: A Sorrowful Act: The Wreck of the Zeewijk interrogate Australia’s first sodomy trial which followed the wreck of the Dutch ship Zeewijk in 1727. Working with museums, archives, historians, archaeologists, and academics in Australia and the Netherlands, this project unearths this under-represented queer narrative to make it visible through an exhibition encounter. The exhibition features over 80 works across photography, video, textile and installation art and embodied exchanges between the audience and these artworks reveal histories of queer injustice in ways that are material and visceral.

SIGNIFICANCE: This project was exhibited at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in 2020 before touring to various regional venues in 2020-2021. The project was funded by Perth Institute for Contemporary Arts, Australia Council for the Arts, RMIT University, City of Melbourne, and Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was accompanied by a substantial publication featuring essays by leading scholars, including Prof Ted Snell AO, Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, and Prof Dennis Altman AO. The work was widely covered in the media, including Artist Profile, ABC Perth, Art Almanac, and Westerly Journal. Works from the project have been acquired by major institutions, including University of Western Australia and National Gallery of Victoria, and included in major curated exhibitions, including Queer at NGV.