Culture

First Nations Peoples Criticise Dark Mofo’s Tone Deaf Request For Indigenous Blood

And Dark Mofo's response to criticism isn't any better.

by Merryana Salem  23 March 2021
dark-mofo

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UPDATE 23/03/2021: Since publication, Dark Mofo have posted to their Facebook page officially stating that Santiago Sierra’s Union Flag project will no longer be going ahead.

“In the end the hurt that will be caused by proceeding isn’t worth it,” stated Leigh Carmichael from the festival. “We made a mistake, and take full responsibility. The project will be cancelled. We apologise to all First Nations people for any hurt that has been caused. We are sorry.”

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A Union Jack flag will be “immersed in the blood of First Nations peoples from territories colonised by the British Empire”, as part of an art installation for the 2021 Dark Mofo art and music festival in Hobart.

Aboriginal and other Indigenous peoples are criticising the Spanish artist behind the concept, Santiago Sierra. The artist requested Indigenous peoples to donate their blood for the installation via Dark Mofo’s Instagram and Twitter under a photo of red text reading “we want your blood”.

On Twitter, the callout for donations read: “On behalf of artist Santiago Sierra, we are looking for people to take part in Union Flag: a new artwork that will see the Union Jack immersed in the blood of its colonised territories at Dark Mofo.” Details on how to donate in the post’s Instagram caption read, “Participants will be invited to donate a small amount of blood to the artwork, facilitated by a medical professional before the festival.”

Aboriginal, Indigenous, and other peoples experiencing colonialism under British imperialism were immediately critical of the proposed instillation’s tone-deaf approach to colonial trauma. First Nations writer and rapper Briggs commented beneath the Instagram post: “We already gave enough blood.” Kira Puru, another Indigenous artist, commented: “What a way to reveal that there are no First Nations folks in your curatorial/consulting teams.”

Gunai Gunditjmara activist Meriki Onus tweeted: “We’ve drawn enough blood. Maybe it’s time for colonisers to bleed all the money they are hoarding and pay reparations.” And Dutch activist Suus Ferwerda got to the crux of the issue, writing: “A Spanish artist asking for Aboriginal/Indigenous blood in collaboration with settler-colonial institution is well beyond tone-deaf. Blood isn’t a symbol to be used for white saviourist, and pretend ‘cutting edge’ art that enriches private institutions and their festivals.”

“A coloniser artist intending to produce art with the actual blood of colonised people is abusive, colonising and re-traumatising,” tweeted Noongar author Claire G. Coleman. As a start, many people pointed out that Dark Mofo could at least pay Indigenous people for their blood, considering it would be featured in a for-profit festival and exhibit.

Owing to this criticism, Dark Mofo released a statement on Facebook. The statement read as an acknowledgment of the criticism for the Union Flag project, but ultimately cited the “human right” of free expression as to the reason why they would still be going ahead with Sierra’s installation. It’s yet another tone-deaf response that demonstrates how Dark Mofo values the creative voice of a non-Indigenous artist over the rightfully hurt voices of 1000s of Indigenous voices.

This is not the first time Sierra’s work has been criticised for his tone-deaf and exploitive approach. In 2003, he was Spain’s representative at the Venice Biennale, garnering much critique when he made his art only accessible to those with Spanish ID cards, as a supposed commentary on how art prioritises nationalist pride. Ultimately, his installation perpetuated the very institutionalised xenophobia it was seeking to critique.

In 2006, his instillation titled ‘245 Cubic Metres’ was also referred to as ‘the gas chamber’. The installation was set up in an ex-synagogue and operated by creating lethal levels of carbon monoxide by attaching hoses to the exhaust pipes of six cars. Visitors were then admitted for five minutes individually, wearing breathing apparatus, and accompanied by a firefighter.  The work was widely criticised for trivialising the Holocaust by the Jewish community.

In another work of Sierra’s from 2000 known as the‘ 160cm Line Tattooed on 4 People’ — four sex workers were paid a shot of heroin to have a line tattooed across their backs. Supposedly, the installation was critiquing how addiction is both exploited and stigmatised within society.

The common thread that binds Sierra’s works is a dedication to performative social awareness.  His work may tap into current social issues and anxieties. However, Sierra appears to have an inability to understand how his work tends to reinforce the very social trauma he seeks to critique. He also creates his art within and for the institutions that enact the traumas his art supposedly critiques. This renders his art not so much a critique, but a dark joke at the expense of oppressed and marginalised peoples.

As a descendant of the Wonnarua people, this kind of art — which aims to profit from our ongoing colonial trauma — is so deeply angering that it’s almost hard to believe it exists. Almost. Sierra’s latest work, and more, its acceptance at the Dark Mofo festival is another reminder of how art, artists and the institutions under which they operate are as culpable in reinforcing social trauma as any other institution.  Despite intentions, art created within, for and by those who benefit from settler-colonial systems, by their very nature cannot exist as a critique of those systems. They are performative at best, and re-traumatising social capital at worst. Union Flag is, unequivocally, the latter.

Merryana Salem (she/they) is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out their podcast, GayV Club where they gush about LGBT rep in media. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.