The Statue Review
Collaborators
Created with artist collective Heavy Duty
Press & Recognition
D&AD Side Hustle Shortlist
Published in ‘Monumental Disruptions’ by Bronwyn Carlson & Terri Farrelly
VICE
ABC Breakfast Radio
Sydney Morning Herald
Reddit
Junkee
As Black Lives Matter swept the globe and colonial statues came down in droves, WA’s mistreatment of blank ancestors stayed well hidden.
So to tell the hidden history behind two of Western Australia’s most glorified colonisers—Captain James Stirling and John Septimus Roe, we replaced the plaques underneath their statues with new ones. Each new plaque was rewritten to accurately depicted their involvement in the massacre of Aboriginal Australians.
The stunt got picked up by the press and gave the nation a powerful history lesson.
At dawn the plaques were quietly installed in Boorloo, Perth CBD.
This project was created in consultation with First Nations people.
May we know and teach black history.
By midday they’d been removed. But it didn’t matter—they were already making headlines.
People appreciated the overdue history lesson.
Especially this guy.