Cirrus@Austlit

• Title: Uz vs them

• Date of Production: 2006

• Medium: Single channel digital video, 2:20 minutes

• Edition: 2/5

• Credit Line: Collection of the University of Queensland. Gift of Richard Bell through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2009

• Accession Number: 2009.31 A Master

• Copyright Line: Courtesy of the artist

A continuation of Bell’s foray into new media works, Uz vs them (2006) takes place in a quiet, inner city boxing studio, and features the artist himself, as well as a younger white man, preparing for a fight. Bordering between comical and uneasy, the film shows the two men coming close together in a confrontation, although they will never come to blows physically. While the younger man is visible angry, and training himself for a physical fight, Bell is seen to be considerably calmer, spending more time preening in front of a mirror rather than training physically, whilst a trio of young women cheer him on regardless. Throughout the duration of the two minute film the younger man shouts angry statements about the (fictional) “demands” of Indigenous Australians, such as tax reductions and new houses, however Bell is able to rebuff these ridiculous statements with ease and clarity. It becomes clear to the viewer that this is a battle of words and ideologies, reflecting on the complex set of race-relations that exist in contemporary Australian society between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (https://www.mca.com.au/collection/work/200843/ ). While Uz vs them provides a visual emphasis on the highly politicised issues surrounding this debate, it also explores the fight faced by Indigenous Australians, who are struggling for rights and recognition in their own country more than 200 years after the arrival of British colonial forces. The disappointing lack of progress in this regard is reflected in Bell’s own description of his film, which explains that it “presents no apparent winner” (https://www.mca.com.au/collection/work/200843/). Uz vs them is not Bell’s only film to explore the social aspect of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian relations, with later video works like Scratch an Aussie (2008) and The Dinner Party (2013) drawing attention to widespread issues such as racism, prejudice, and cultural misunderstandings that still underpin the social landscape of Australia (http://www2b.abc.net.au/EventCentral/View/event.aspx?p=57&e=14031812). The shift from the more traditional artwork seen earlier in Bell’s career, to the new media works that are becoming more dominant in his later life, reflects on a desire to be more direct with his message, unleashing his inner social activist onto both the Australian and the international art market (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2014/feb/21/richard-bell-asylum-seeker-policy-is-a-manifestation-of-australian-racism).