Peter Leonard Campbell, 1993

oil on canvas

91 x 122 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: The Collection of Gordon and Elaine Syron, NSW
Exhibited: Syron’s War: Gordon Syron Retrospective, Newstead Art, Bondi Beach, NSW, 19 March – 23 April 2026
Literature / Illustrated: Catalogue cover image for Syron’s War Gordon Syron Retrospective, 19 March – 23 April 2027
Artwork story: First exhibited in Black Deaths in Custody at the Balmain Community Centre in 1993, this work belongs to a group of nineteen paintings informed by the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The exhibition was supported by the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, and the works were later presented at NSW Parliament House in 1996 in an exhibition curated by Jane Raffan. Like others in this group, Gordon depicts the gravestone of the individual named in the title. He learned of these stories through trial transcripts and official records, which he accessed while giving testimony to the Royal Commission itself. The figure in this painting is shown looking into the mirror of his prison cell bathroom, where a deranged spirit is reflected back at him. A forceful explosion radiating outwards from the cell evokes the broader violence and turmoil surrounding imprisonment. In the background to the right, two figures follow the direction of a sign reading Mission, carrying their luggage towards a map of an idealised Australia, suggesting the false promise of a better life. To the left, a policeman floats in the sky, while a colonially dressed white man turns his head away from two Aboriginal figures with their hands outstretched, reinforcing the presence of authority, indifference and exclusion that underpins the scene. In the bottom left corner, Aboriginal figures are shown on Country beside grazing cattle and a waterhole, recalling a peaceful way of life that once was.

Stockroom

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Gordon Syron

b. 1941

Region: South-East Australia
Community: Nabiac
Language group: Birpi (Biripi); Worimi

Peter Leonard Campbell, 1993

oil on canvas

91 x 122 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: The Collection of Gordon and Elaine Syron, NSW
Exhibited: Syron’s War: Gordon Syron Retrospective, Newstead Art, Bondi Beach, NSW, 19 March – 23 April 2026
Literature / Illustrated: Catalogue cover image for Syron’s War Gordon Syron Retrospective, 19 March – 23 April 2027
Artwork story: First exhibited in Black Deaths in Custody at the Balmain Community Centre in 1993, this work belongs to a group of nineteen paintings informed by the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The exhibition was supported by the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, and the works were later presented at NSW Parliament House in 1996 in an exhibition curated by Jane Raffan. Like others in this group, Gordon depicts the gravestone of the individual named in the title. He learned of these stories through trial transcripts and official records, which he accessed while giving testimony to the Royal Commission itself. The figure in this painting is shown looking into the mirror of his prison cell bathroom, where a deranged spirit is reflected back at him. A forceful explosion radiating outwards from the cell evokes the broader violence and turmoil surrounding imprisonment. In the background to the right, two figures follow the direction of a sign reading Mission, carrying their luggage towards a map of an idealised Australia, suggesting the false promise of a better life. To the left, a policeman floats in the sky, while a colonially dressed white man turns his head away from two Aboriginal figures with their hands outstretched, reinforcing the presence of authority, indifference and exclusion that underpins the scene. In the bottom left corner, Aboriginal figures are shown on Country beside grazing cattle and a waterhole, recalling a peaceful way of life that once was.