1. Creation Story

On one level, this second panel represents an Aboriginal creation story involving two lovers whose affair is discovered by the elder who is betrothed to the female lover. The aggrieved elder throws a boomerang at the male lover (the Rainbow or Rainbow Serpent), severing it. The panel itself presents the symbols of the relevant body parts of the lovers.

2. Word Play

The symbols of the body parts in the panel are represented and juxtaposed in such a way as to form a play on words in English, the relevant word play concerning "a black cockatoo", with "or two" substituting for "atoo" in a colloquial metaphor well known to many Australians. Indeed, the panel itself might well be titled, "Black Cockatoo".

3. Additional Connotations

The "Australian National Dictionary" states that the cockatoo was considered to be "a great delicacy" and was "often killed with the boomerang". The artist’s own material also provides additional correlating references illustrating similar themes to those above regarding the "black cockatoo". The catalogue from the artist’s exhibition "Lick My Black Art" is particularly instructive.

4. Burial And Sequencing

Returning to the "shrine", the first panel, that on the immediate left, is on one level a representation of an Aboriginal burial scene. In Aboriginal mythology, it is the black cockatoo which, shrieking loudly, accompanies the spirit of the deceased to its destination. Sequentially then, the second panel would logically concern the black cockatoo - as indeed it does.

5. Eliza Fraser Connection

To fully appreciate how this "black cockatoo" theme plays out into further levels of meaning in panel two, it is necessary to appreciate that the male symbol also serves as a representation of Fraser Island, the home territory of the artist.

It is also necessary to understand something of the story of the pejoratively labeled "English gentlewoman" Eliza Fraser - who herself later "shrieked" at length about her misfortunes - and how her story has been variously "deconstructed" and remembered.

In short, the panel sets forth a ribald and unsympathetic joke relating to Eliza Fraser concerning what happened to her in her time on the Island, the punch line being: nothing more nor less it would seem than "a black cockatoo". (This is the less explicit version.)

6. Meaning Summarized

Ultimately, then, what is represented in panel two is a creation story and a post-burial spirit sequence, both of which invoke the "black cockatoo". Building on that, there is the "atoo" / "or two" play on words and the visual presentation of that word play. This is all presented in a visual context of Fraser Island, the joke being – for those in the know – that the play on words refers specifically to what happened to Eliza on Fraser Island.

7. How Well Does This Stack Up ?

As set out above, the "black cockatoo" theme works on several levels, a few too many it seems for the meaning to have been simply unintended. Bear in mind also, we are dealing here with a work whose full meaning has not previously been revealed, despite calls for a full disclosure.

Also, as indicated earlier, other works by the same artist play on similar themes. Finally, what art critics have had to say also appears to correlate with the interpretation.

8. Further References

The book "In The Wake Of First Contact: The Eliza Fraser Stories", by Kay Schaffer, provides further contextual information on relevant unsympathetic readings of the Eliza Fraser story. Among other things, the book contains a critique of some of the artist’s works, including her various "Eliza Heads For Trouble" works. Also, the 1991 version of "Eliza Fraser Heads For Trouble" has been described by the Nigerian artist and critic Olu Oguibe as "Foley’s fist-in-the-face piece", ("Medium and Memory in the Art of Fiona Foley", Third Text, Winter 1995-96).

Olu Oguibe’s web site, "www.arts.usf.edu/~oguibe", is also of interest for its analyses of this particular style of art and the "racial disregard" which it expresses. The writings and utterances of other critics and of the artist herself also provide interesting indications of her outlook and attitudes.

9. Reconciliation ?

It would seem difficult to dispute that the "Black Cockatoo" panel sets forth themes of sexual violence, racial disregard and mockery and, not to put too fine a point on it, notions of racial pay-back. This is not the art of reconciliation. If anything, it is the opposite, an other than friendly celebration of sexual pay-back, and racially charged. Further, it is to be noted that the display of art which is offensive on racial grounds in a place to which the public have access, may be unlawful in terms of Section 18C of the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act.

More to the point, one must query how art of this nature found a place in a Catholic Cathedral. What has gone wrong?

Mystery Disappearance

Last month’s NFTP asked whether the St Stephen’s Cathedral shrine "The Human Search For God" bore marks indicative of ritualized processes of preparation and installation and recommended the seeking of independent expert opinion on the matter.

On Friday 14 August, two copies of NFTP No.5 had been hand delivered, one to the office of the archbishop and one to the Cathedral administration office. No other copies were given out until Sunday 16 August. In that time, it seems, one of the marks referred to disappeared from the shrine - a small, finely woven coil of what appeared to NFTP to be human hair.

The coil was about the size of a one-cent coin, flat and oval in shape. It was discreetly but firmly attached against a dark background near the top right-hand corner of the highest panel, at a height of around seven feet above the floor.

It is possible perhaps that the timing of the disappearance was purely coincidental. In any case, NFTP had previously taken steps to ensure that the coil was photographed.

What was the significance - ritual or otherwise - of the coil? Whatever the answer, additional questions for this month include, who removed the coil, and why?

Tim Pemble-Smith
3 – 111 Central Avenue 
Indooroopilly Q 4068
after hours: (07) 3871 2047

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