2010
….I hope it will have the desired effect.
This work is made of collaged woven and sewn paper plates which have been stitched on to an embroidered babies cot blanket. The collaged images are of disembodied limbs which are riddled with small pox and in various states of decay. The eye is the witness. There is conjecture in historical circles as to whether smallpox was deliberately spread in Australia via infected blankets into the Aboriginal populations of Sydney. (as happened to Native American tribes). Almost whole populations of tribes were wiped out because of this terrible disease. There is evidence in the diary of Watkin Tench that tells us that samples of the Variola Vera (smallpox) virus were brought in with the early fleets. The babies blanket refers to the fact that Aborigines were viewed by the colonisers as an infantile race and lacking in sophistication.