Three Layer Cake

Interview with Bidjara man Christian Thompson

I was struck by his photographs at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, one of which a self-portrait.  I wanted to find out who he was, and I did.

Christian Bumbarra Thompson, photographer and installation artist; freelance curator and writer.  He is a young Bidjara man of the Kunja Nation from southwest Queensland.  He is one of Australia’s leading conceptual installation artists.  He’s only 27, but his work was recognized on a national level long before now.  His work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia Collection, the National Gallery of Victoria Collection and the Aboriginal Art Museum Collection in the Netherlands, and has been shown in Asia, Europe, Canada and the South Pacific.  Thompson studied sculpture and textile design as an undergraduate in Toowoomba, Queensland, and later pursued a Master of Fine Arts (Sculpture) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

The son of an Aboriginal man and a Australian mother of German and Jewish descent, Christian has confronted the issue of identity and how his society has dealt with his (and his father’s identity) his entire life.  These experiences are woven into his art through which he is committed to engaging with his own community, often treating the contradictions between preconceived ideas and reality.  His goal is not a harsh juxtaposition of negativity, but a real presentation of his own community, a presentation of the parallel between art and life, almost at the point where the two meet.  "I like to work in the grey area I call anarchy," he defines the intersection.  The terrain of the art world, in his words, is unchartered territory for Aboriginal people.  His success is a noteworthy reward for the task he has undertaken of entering the art world to speak first and foremost for his people but also for all Australians.

Although he has been represented by Gabrielle Pizzi gallery in Melbourne since 2000, his greatest satisfaction came but two years later.  He knew he was getting his art right after he exhibited his Jumpers (2002).  “The moment which has brought me the most satisfaction to date has been when Aboriginal people expressed appreciation for my work.  They liked it because they felt they could put themselves into my work,” he said thoughtfully.  The jumpers were regular bodied jumpers but with sleeves of between four and five meters in length, more sculpture-like in appearance.  Christian worked with a commercial weaver to produce them.  Two of the jumpers were purchased and exhibited at the NGA the same year (Kangaroo and Boomerang Jumper).

Another of his installations, currently exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), is entitled Emotional Striptease (2003).  It merges his studies in textiles and costume with those of photography in a different way.  The seven image photographic installation include pictures of indigenous men and women with traditional Aboriginal props against backdrops of modern Melbourne.  Among these is a self-portrait (left).  Still, stark, and rich, the photos encourage visitors to ask themselves questions about the culture and identity of the Bidjara people.  Who are they and what are they about?

Today, Christian has transitioned from still photography to video.  He is working on a performance based series called, “Let’s Dance” that explores traditional ideas about masculinity through initiation and incarnation.  A treatment of traditional ideas, he again draws heavily on the use of costumes.  This dance performance is set to David Bowie’s 1983 hit, drawing on the theme presented in Bowie’s video of an Aboriginal woman dancing on a hillside. (Intro photo is a still from the video).

Christian transitioned into video because it seemed a logical progression for his work.  He prefers to confront his art much the same way the art presents itself:  as a logical progression of life, going where time takes him, and taking the time to assess and appreciate each moment and allowing that moment to determine his next step.  He and his work are in constant flux.