Yhonnie Scarce

Yhonnie Scarce was born in Woomera in South Australia in 1973. She belongs to the Kokatha and Nukunu peoples. In 2004 Scarce graduated from the South Australian School of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) majoring in glassmaking. Scarce's work often references the on-going effects of Colonisation on Aboriginal people and comment on the social and political mores of historical and contemporary Australia in regards to this colonization. After graduating she tutored in Indigenous Arts, Culture and Design at the University of South Australia. In 2006 she was a finalist in the 23rd Telstra Aboriginal and Islander Art Award, in that same year she held a solo exhibition Forget me Not at the National Aboriginal Cultural Institute (Tandanya). Scarce was a finalist in Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award at the Queensland Art Gallery-Gallery of Modern Art in 2007, in that same year Scarce's work was included in the exhibition Another Story-Indigenous Responses to Colonialism held at the Festival Centre, Adelaide. In 2008 she became the South Australian recipient of the inaugural Qantas Foundation Encouragement for Australian Contemporary Art Award and is currently studying for the degree of Masters of Fine Art (Research) at Monash University, Melbourne. Her work has been collected by The Art Gallery of South Australia, The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, The Flinders University Art Museum and The University of South Australia, and private collections in Australia.

Exhibitions

Ectopia - 2010

Yhonnie's first solo exhibition at Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Projects will extend on the themes of her previous practice. Often referencing the on-going effects of Colonisation on Aboriginal people, Scarce comments on the social and political mores of historical and contemporary Australia in regards to this Colonisation. This series of work relates to the removal and containment of Indigenous people during the settlement of Australia. Found objects such as the suitcase symbolises white settlement and how indigenous people were gathered together and 'shipped' off at the same time. They were often removed in large numbers from their homelands and 'held' in remote areas of the country, often on Christian Mission settlements. Scarce purposely utilises clear glass as a metaphor to depict Australia's past treatment of indigenous peoples. The translucency of glass thus exposes the hidden, invisible and dismissed culture. Which at times still takes place today.

Yhonnie Scarce - Oppression, repression (family portrait)

Yhonnie Scarce - Oppression, repression (family portrait) detail

Previous Works - 2008

My practice has employed a range of mediums and techniques such as glass, painting and installation. I have previously created blown glass bush food to represent Aboriginal people and culture whilst integrating found objects and mixed media into my practice. I consider my practice to be interdisciplinary having moved across different areas, selecting media most appropriate to my ideas and intentions. My artwork is directly political, materials such as metal, string, and fabric have been used as a presentation device to present artwork that are chained, bound and covered - a direct metaphor for various processes of colonialism and the persistency of colonialism. I have previously played with the notion of containment and the removal of Indigenous Australians, creating artwork that depicts the idea of colonialism through creating installations, timed based and ephemeral work. Working across various mediums and spatial practices I have been able to create artwork that possesses an historical dialogue. By expressing different aspects of my heritage I am utilising visual art as a tool of communication to re-surface history, exposing hidden layers of Australia's identity.

Yhonnie Scarce - Burial Gound ( detail )

Yhonnie Scarce - Family Portrait ( detail )

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