Roberta Joy Rich: The Purple Shall Govern

Presented by Footscray Community Arts
29 January – 27 March 2022

Under the Nationalist Party government, South Africa’s nation was under siege. In response to civil unrest, President P.W. Botha declared a State of Emergency that enabled police and defence forces increased power and unfettered abilities to restrict political resistance and censor reportage. Almost 15 years prior, Queensland State Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson, granted similar powers through a month long State of Emergency as a response to demonstrations taking place during the South African Springbok Rugby Tour. These events are significant because they symbolise and remind us of the unspoken and systematic forces of oppression endured by First Nations and Black peoples by colonial governments.

Inspired by surviving evidence of an Anti-Apartheid protest in Cape Town in 1989, artist Roberta Joy Rich presents a series of new sound, video and installation works that act as a catalyst and timely interrogation for recognition and reflection through a process of reframing moments, affirming stories and anarchiving materials.

Drawing upon the artist’s southern African family narratives, and settler nation Australia’s colonial imposition on First Nations communities, The Purple Shall Govern hopes to challenge and affirm experiences of publics, inviting us to navigate and consider our relationships with histories that have residually informed the ways in which we move within public space.

What are the conditions of power in public spaces? How do they inform our ontologies, presence and permissions of movement today? 

About the artist:

Roberta Joy Rich is a multi-disciplinary artist who seeks to re-frame archives of African identity and histories, responding to constructs of “race” and gender identity. Often referencing her own diaspora southern African identity and experiences, she utilises language, archives and sometimes satire, in her video, performance, installation and mixed media projects. Rich draws from various socio-political, historical and popular culture epistemologies, to engage with notions of “authenticity”, with the aim of deconstructing colonial modalities and proposals of self-determination within her arts practice

Since completing her Master of Fine Arts at Monash University, Rich has exhibited projects in Melbourne, interstate and across Johannesburg and Cape Town. Recent exhibitions include, Deny/Denial/Denied, Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne (2017); One Colour at a Time: Contemporary Screen Prints, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg (2017); M/other Land, Arts House (2018); Transmissions, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town (2018); The Fairest Cape? An account of a Coloured, Bus Projects, Melbourne (2018), Firstdraft, Sydney (2019); WE KOPPEL, WE DALA, Metro Arts, Brisbane, Incinerator Art Award, Incinerator Gallery (2020); and Stimulus Package as part of Darebin City Council’s FUSE Festival (2020). An alumni of Footscray Community Art’s Emerging Creative Leaders Program (2017), her residencies in South Africa have been supported by NAVA, The Freedman Foundation and Australia Council for the Arts. She is the 2020 recipient of the Debra Porch Award for an upcoming residency at the Cemeti Institute for Art and Society, Yogyakarta, Indonesia and recently received a Creative Development Grant for a new moving image work supported by ACMI and the Ian Potter Cultural Trust.

Events

Roberta Rich: The Purple Shall Govern launch, Saturday 19 February 2-4pm

The Purple Shall Govern: Sounds of Resistance, Saturday 12 February, 6-9pm 

The Purple Shall Govern: Screens of Resistance, Wednesday 2 March and Wednesday 16 March, 6-9pm

Roberta Rich artist talk, Sunday 20 March, 2 – 3:30pm

About Footscray Community Arts:

Footscray Community Arts was established in 1974 by artists, unionists and other community activists with a clear agenda of access for all. This group of founders successfully advocated for state and federal funding to establish an arts centre responsive to the social and cultural needs of Footscray’s marginalised and disadvantaged communities. Footscray Community Arts has been recognised for exemplary practice in community arts and cultural development. Their year-round programs have fostered generations of contemporary arts practitioners.

A research video from this project will also be presented at ACCA, in the Project Space: The Hoarding over the duration of the exhibition.

Access:

Please visit the Footscray Community Arts access page for information on how to navigate accessibly and familiarise yourself with the Footscray Community Arts precinct before you arrive.