Nothing’s sacred in Island Shrine

A DARK Mofo installation is using modern methods to shine new light on an important but largely forgotten figure from Tasmania’s dark past.

Artists Keith Deverell and Fiona Hamilton spent more than two years researching and working on Island Shrine, in partnership with Aunty Netty Shaw and Uncle Rob Anders. Island Shrine uses video, sound, kangaroo skins, bull kelp, ochre, burnt spears, charcoal and maireener shells to explore the story of Tarenorerer, a Tasmanian Aboriginal warrior woman who led an indigenous fightback against white British colonists during Van Diemen’s Land’s genocidal Black War of the 1820s and ’30s.

“As an Aboriginal person, I’m not just setting out to challenge non-Aboriginal Tasmania with this work — I’m also challenging my own people on a number of levels,” Hamilton said.

“[I’m] pushing the boundaries of safe and passive Tasmanian Aboriginal art, which is usually about making cultural items. We’ve found new ways to use very old traditions in this work.

“Dark Mofo has provided us with a unique opportunity to present a work like this. The worst thing that could happen is that we homogenise the ability of artists to talk about their experience — black, white or otherwise — in Tasmania, and to [stop telling] those stories with some guts and some honesty.”

Island Shrine will be open in the Maritime Museum of Tasmania’s Carnegie Gallery from 3-8pm daily until Sunday. Entry is free.