Patrick Waterhouse
Restricted Images – Made with the Warlpiri of Central Australia
Despite the damage caused by colonization to Aboriginal culture, which began in 1788, the Warlpiri indigenous group has preserved an enduring philosophical belief system. In 2014, Patrick Waterhouse went to their lands in the search for documents that retrace Australia’s colonial history. The author presented these photographs and archival material obtained from museums and auctions to the members of the Warlukurlangu art center in the communities of Yuendumu and Nyirippi. Initiating a collaborative process, he invited them to revise the documents through the traditional Aboriginal technique of dot painting, practiced by almost half of the community’s population. The resulting work confronts Australia’s colonial narrative with its Aboriginal history, which began more than 60,000 years ago..
In addition to the open-air exhibition at the Giardini del Parterre, Palazzo Baldelli hosts the screening of the video The True Story, a further chapter of the series.
