DIANNE JONES: THE BEACH

Dianne Jones will present a new body of work inspired by the history and site of Manjaree in Fremantle. Jones is a Ballardong artist from Noongar Country in WA.

Dianne Jones made the photographic series that her seminal works ‘Sunbaker’ and ‘Beach Scene’ are drawn from in 2003, more than twenty years ago. Iconic at their time in their displacement of colonial and heterogenous histories of place, these works have been repeatedly celebrated and exhibited. Waving and smiling at the camera, Jones’ inserted her own image and figure into these iconic Australian photographic works by artists such as Max Dupain and others. In these black and white photographs, her presence on the beach queered these sites and firmly placed contemporary indigenous identities into Australian narratives and art history.

Presented alongside this work at beach sites around WA, Dianne will present a new suite of photographic works responsive to the site and history of Manjaree (Bathers Beach) in Walyalup, an historically important site of kinship and meeting in noongar culture. These works seen together complicate Australian beach narratives and address first contact in Walyalup and the historical figure of Captain Fremantle.

Presented in collaboration with Perth Festival.