About the artwork

‘Moments of transformation reinforcing ancestry, sovereignty and the undeniable wisdom and knowledge of millennia. Country reshaped and reconfigured to make visible a deep time sovereign system of interconnectedness and interdependence. These patterns speak of infinity through a First Nations’ lens and construct a sovereign space to counter the ongoing impacts of colonisation.

Photographic images are transformed from the single-point perspective of the camera’s eye to an immersive, kaleidoscopic network of patterns reflecting First Nations cultural knowledge systems. This process decentres the focus on the individual subject and reinforces community and cultural connection to Country, to a philosophy that has always been here and will always be here.’

About the artist

A Barkindji man who has lived most of his life on the lands of the Kulin Nation 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.

Kent transforms the built environment and nature into new forms that reflect First Nations knowledge systems reshaping western frameworks, exploring complex histories and First Peoples cultural continuity since time immemorial. Central themes in his art practice are the connections between contemporary Indigenous experience and contemporary cultural practices and their continuation and evolution.

He is also CEO of The Torch Project, an initiative that provides art, cultural and arts industry support to Indigenous offenders and ex-offenders in Victoria. See work by The Torch artists in the Metro Tunnel Creative Program frames on Franklin Street, opposite the City Baths. Artworks courtesy of the artist and Vivien Anderson Gallery.