item details
NameNgaliya barwon Gami (our great-uncle)
ProductionMegan Cope; artist; 2014; Australia
Classificationlithographs, works on paper
Materialspaper, lithographic ink
Materials SummaryLithograph, printed in yellow, red, blue, and black ink, from four stones; screenprint, printed in grey ink, from one screen on paper
Techniqueslithography, screen printing
DimensionsApproximate: 560mm (width), 760mm (height)
Registration Number2016-0006-2
Credit lineGift of The Australian War Memorial, 2016
Overview
The service of Megan Cope’s great-great-uncle Private Richard Martin is the focus of her print. As an indigenous Australian, it was illegal for him to enlist, so he claimed that he was a New Zealander in order to sign up.
From 1914, he fought on the Western Front and in battles at Bullecourt, Messines, and Passchendaele. He was killed in the Battle of Dernancourt in 1918.
Cope has transposed a family portrait of Martin in uniform over a map of the Battle of Dernancourt. She is interested in the names – especially the Aboriginal names Dingo, Emu, and Yarra – the army has assigned to the trenches. For her, this echoed the colonial process of renaming Aboriginal lands.