ART AND HUMAN RIGHTS:
WITNESSING TO SILENCE

FIONA FOLEY

Drill Hall Gallery

Fiona Foley has been exhibiting since 1984. Based in Brisbane, she is recognised for her art internationally, particularly for her attention to contemporary indigenous life and culture in Australia. Foley is represented in all major public collections in Australia and her work includes photography, sculpture, installation, collaborations and community-based projects. A graduate of Sydney College of the Arts, she originally worked in print and collage that she later developed into larger sculptural installations including natural materials. Foley is a founding member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in Sydney.

In many of her works, Foley has explored the themes of history, memory and politics, taking inspiration and influence from her Badtjala ancestry and the environment of Fraser Island. Explaining her initial inspiration for this aspect of her work she has said:
'... It doesn't matter how dysfunctional a community is or how much it has been affected by colonisation as pretty well all Aboriginal communities have been, some quite severely you still have strong cultural leaders, people who give hope and strength to those struggling to survive bi-culturally in Australia. This helped me realise that I had a choice too, that I could make a difference.' from Benjamin Genocchio, Fiona Foley: Solitaire, Piper Press, Annandale, 2001, p.83

Foley has exhibited with Roslyn Oxley Gallery since 1988. Her major artistic achievements include Edge of the Trees 1995 (a public sculpture at the Museum of Sydney in collaboration with Janet Laurence) and co-curating Tyerabarrbowaryaou II, Havana Biennial 1994. Other key exhibitions in which she has participated include Your Place or Mine?, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2002), Aboriginal Art in Modern Worlds, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia (2000),Claiming Title, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New York (1999) and Land and Sea: The Cultural Connection, Hervey Bay Regional Gallery (1998). Recent solo exhibitions include Fiona Foley: Pir’ri Mangrove, Brisbane and Melbourne (2001) and River of Corn, Contemporary Art Museum, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA. Foley's work for this exhibition consists of two separate wall-based installations dealing with the power of language.

Fiona Foley
In the meantime 1998
Charcoal on paper (15 panels)
Image courtesy Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

© Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 2003

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Last Modified: Fri, 06 Jun 2003