Sandra Hill
1951 - Skindeep 2015- lightbox, rice paper, shellac, Marri and Balga resin, bush string and ink
No matter what colour we are - we are all in this together. We are all joined by blood and humanity. Sandra Hill 2017
Noongar artist Sandra Hill was taken from her parents at just seven years of age - the third generation of her family to be removed and placed in an institution.
An image of an angel inspired a career as an artist, and she's now a prolific creator of paintings, sculptures and public art and her work is collected by museums and galleries nationally.
Skindeep is a deceptively understated work in which strips of rice paper dyed in natural bush resins and hand-stitched together and set into a lightbox. The overall effect is of a gently glowing cabinet.
Varying in tones from dark to light browns and yellows to white, the stitched elements form a softly modulated patchwork of colour through which the words 'sKIN deep' glow through like a watermark. The wording is of course central to the meaning of the work - the play on the word 'sKIN' suggesting the ideas of family, kin and the unifying connection of skin in all its shades of colour.
This piece was included in the National Indigenous Art Triennial DEFYING EMPIRE at the National Gallery of Australia in 2017 alongside a companion work in national collection.
© Sandra Hill