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.
This work reflects Syron’s bleak prediction that the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody would continue to rise, often as the result of imprisonment for minor offences, including the non-payment of driving or parking fines.
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.
This work reflects Syron’s bleak prediction that the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody would continue to rise, often as the result of imprisonment for minor offences, including the non-payment of driving or parking fines.
