Kent Morris

Red Wattlebird

2017

A Barkindji man living on Yaluk-ut Weelam Country in Melbourne, Kent Morris graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts and is an alumnus of the National Gallery of Australia's Wesfarmers Indigenous Leadership Program. Central themes in his art practice are the connections between contemporary Indigenous experience and contemporary cultural practices and their continuation and evolution. By reconstructing the built environment through a First Nations lens, Morris reveals the continuing presence and patterns of Aboriginal history, culture and knowledge in the contemporary Australian landscape, despite ongoing colonial interventions in the physical and political environments. The interaction of native birds with the built environment reflects resilience, adaption, continuity and change to ecological systems reflecting on the ways in which Indigenous culture survives and adapts. Morris manipulates structures and nature into new forms that reflect elements of Aboriginal tangible and intangible cultural heritage and reinforce cultural continuity since time immemorial. All Morris' artworks are constructed from a single photograph taken while walking on Country. Apart from basic editing, digital information has not been added or subtracted from the original photograph