Imposed Hierarchies
1995
- Medium
- synthetic polymer paint, charcoal
- Measurements
- 64.0 × 40.1 cm
- Inscription
- inscribed in chalk on work u.l. - u.c.:
Imposed / hierarchies
inscribed in pencil on reverse l.l. - l.c.: G Bennett May 1995 / "Imposed Hierarchies" / 60 x 40cms / Mixed Media - Accession Number
- 1997.100
- Department
- Australian Prints & Drawings
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of the Moët & Chandon Art Acquisition Fund, Governor, 1997
© The Estate of Gordon Bennett
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest - Gallery location
- Gallery 10
Level 2, NGV Australia - About this work
-
In a letter to the contemporary artist Gordon Bennett (1955–2014) written in February 1991, Lee characterised Bennett’s practice as ‘simultaneously disturbing and appealing’. The communication came after Bennett was awarded the Moët & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship in 1991. In the letter, Lee proclaimed that ‘there are but a handful (less) of Aboriginal artists’ work worth intellectualising about. You are one.’ Imposed hierarchies addresses a shared intellectual preoccupation of both Lee’s and Bennett’s: How is Aboriginality constructed? In his response to Lee’s letter, Bennett stated, ‘The notion of the primitive is not questioned. I want to question such things.’ Lee’s photographic practice materialises this pursuit through photography, weaponising many of the same techniques as Bennett, including appropriation and citation.
