Cirrus@Austlit

Biting The Clouds

A Badtjala perspective on the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897

'In this groundbreaking work of Indigenous scholarship, nationally renowned visual artist Fiona Foley addresses the inherent silences, errors and injustices from the perspective of her people, the Badtjala of K’gari (Fraser Island). She shines a critical light on the little-known colonial-era practice of paying Indigenous workers in opium and the ‘solution’ of then displacing them to K’gari.

Biting the Clouds – a euphemism for being stoned on opium – combines historical, personal and cultural imagery to reclaim the Badtjala story from the colonisation narrative. Full-colour images of Foley’s artwork add further impact to this important examination of Australian history.'

(Source : UQP)

An interactive documentary telling the story of the shipwreck of Eliza Fraser on K'gari (later Fraser Island) from the perspective of the Butchulla people among whom she found herself.

'In a bold and unprecedented project, acclaimed international artist Fiona Foley curated a cutting edge installation in the University of Queensland's sandstone Great Court. Universities have traditionally been elite institutions, overlooking and undervaluing the knowledge contributions of Indigenous thinkers, activists and artists. This history is etched into the walls of the Great Court, with anachronistic concepts of humanity and racial difference revealed in many of friezes and sculptural reliefs. Fiona Foley and her team of eight Aboriginal artists aimed to challenge these concepts...'