Christian Thompson

Christian Thompson
Untitled (Banksia Leaf)  2007
c-type print; edition of 10
Geelong Gallery
Purchased with funds generously provided by Geelong Contemporary, 2018 

Christian Thompson’s series Australian Graffiti—
from which this work originates—comprises portraits
of the artist wearing headdresses of Australian flora.
Thompson’s photography extends the history of
portraiture to foreground Indigenous cultural identity,
kinship and connections to Country; and personal
issues concerning masculinity, sexuality, and the
erosion of difference in a globalised world.

Thompson wears costumes bearing symbols and flags,
and arranges native flowers and leaves into intricate
headbands that partially or fully conceal his eyes from
the viewer. Graffiti declares identity and ownership—
boldly and sometimes defiantly. In this work Thompson
asserts an ancient and ongoing Indigenous presence
and belonging in an image that simultaneously proclaims
and protects its subject.