Figure in the Landscape [Ongoing 1983-]

Figure in the Landscape

This post consists of several bodies of work that were produced for separate exhibition from 1984 to 1990, such as:

Apparitions of the Disappeared (1986)

Mid-Winter Narrative (1986)

Occupational Portraits (1988)

and Figure in the Landscape: Ten Contemporary Ideas (1990)

See other posts on this website that also address the ‘figure in the landscape’ such as The Fishman of SE Australia (1988-ongoing) and Walking the Solar System (2000-ongoing)

Atlas Man

Bald Rock National Park 1985

Apparitions of the Disappeared: Unknown Citizens in Nowhere Places

Fieldwork undertaken in 1984 for exhibition in Photospace Gallery, Photomedia Workshop, Canberra School of Art, ACT Australia, 1986.

John Reid on location in the Strzelecki Desert, South Australia, 1984, making images for the ‘Apparitions’ exhibition (1986) with a 8x10 format camera and Polaroid film. The field trip was undertaken with colleague and visual artist, Ingo Kleinert, in his Combie Van

Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 1. 1984. Polaroid print

Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 2. 1984. Polaroid print

Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 3. 1984. Polaroid print

Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 4. 1984. Polaroid print

Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 5. 1984. Polaroid print

Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 6. 1984. Polaroid print

Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 7. 1984. Polaroid print

Apparition of the Disappeared Apparition 8. 1984. Polaroid print

John Reid Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 9. 1984. (Not included in the 1986 Photospace Gallery Exhibition)

John Reid Apparition of the Disappeared. Apparition 10. 1984. (Not included in the 1986 Photospace Gallery Exhibition)

John Reid 'Apparitions of the Disappeared'. Apparitions of the Disappeared exhibition. 1986. Photospace Gallery. Canberra School of Art

Exhibition documentation. Apparition of the Disappeared. 1986. Photospace Gallery. Canberra School of Art

Mid-Winter Narrative

Five days alone in the Strzelecki Desert, South Australia 1985

A selection of the following works were exhibited the Canberra School of Art 1986 Staff Exhibition, CSA, ACT Australia

John Reid 'Mid-Winter Narrative’. South Australia’. 1985. 8x10 inch Polaroid print

John Reid 'Mid-Winter Narrative’. (Detail) South Australia’. 1985. 8x10 inch Polaroid print

John Reid 'Mid-Winter Narrative’. South Australia’. 1985. 8x10 inch Polaroid print

John Reid 'Mid-Winter Narrative’. South Australia’. 1985. 8x10 inch Polaroid print

John Reid 'Mid-Winter Narrative’. South Australia’. 1985. 8x10 inch Polaroid print

Occupational Portraits 1986-88

The exhibition, Occupational Portraits 1986-88, Photospace Gallery, Canberra School of Art, December 1988, consisted of more than 30 works consisting of 8x10 Polaroid prints. The work was also included in a solo exhibition, Body of Work, Perce Tucker Gallery, Townsville, Qld, in 1993-4.

Photographs: Top Parliament House, Canberra. ACT Australia. 1988. Bottom Tibboburra, NSW Australia. 1987. Polaroid prints

I made a decision not to participate in any 1988 Australian bicentenary celebrations. However, two hundred years of colonial occupation of the Australian continent could not pass without comment. In preparation for the 1988 December exhibition in Photospace Gallery, Canberra School of Art, I undertook three field trips from Canberra, ACT, to Cooper Creek, South Australia, during the academic mid-year breaks in 1986-87-88 to generate visual material for my statement of dissent.

In 1986, I stood in remote outback settings as a solitary naked figure clearly alien to the surrounding environment. Connected by an extended air-cable shutter release to a 8x10 inch camera armed with Polaroid film I documented the stand; in most cases taking additional photographs to the left and right to locate the figure in a landscape panorama. See detail left below.

In 1987, I stood around the fringes of outback towns where settler occupation registered significant impacts on the landscape. I stood as a witness to, and accomplice in, the drama. See detail centre below.

In 1988, I again took self portraits but this time in the centre of the towns that dotted the route from Canberra to Cooper Creek. This time I presented myself to the camera as a token Australian Aboriginal, standing as they may have stood in that place at sometime in the past. In 1988, I stood in that place in silent memory of the Aboriginal war dead, for as close to a minute’s silence as I dared. See detail right below.

Photospace Gallery, Canberra School of Art. ACT Australia. Dec 1988. Left wall: 1986. Far wall: Left 1987 | Right 1988 (Detail)

Occupational Portrait 1986

Occupational Portrait 1987

Occupational Portrait 1988 [with members of the Barwon Football Team, Brewarrina NSW, some of whom were facing charges the following week from the riots that took place in Brewarrina in August 1987. The Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum is under construction in the background of the right hand photograph]

Occupational Portrait 1988 [Although I expected to be arrested, I was determined not to be. I managed to avoid confrontation with Police in Bourke, but not in Wilcannia where I was told to ‘get out of town’. Encounters with members of the community (including young mothers with babies and fiesty Aboriginal men) in other towns were resolved peacefully when I explained what I was doing. The public were very accepting of my artistic intentions]