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Postera Crescam Laude

Brook Andrew’s ‘Sanctuary: Tombs of the Outcasts’

Anthea Gunn
Eyeline 84
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An obviously-aged champagne cork, carefully presented in a glass vitrine, is instantly evocative of celebrations long-past. This one is part of the Ray Jones archive at the University of Melbourne. Jones was a careful archivist and collector, sending numbered letters to his family, preserving theirs in return, and collecting souvenirs throughout his four years of service during the First World War. The champagne cork is ‘a souvenir of Anzac Day 1918’. This raises questions—was the champagne opened in celebration? Or commemoration? Three years to the day since the Australian nation had entered a war on the global stage. Three years since the consumers of this wine had started seeing and causing death. But maybe it was more prosaic—troops participated in sports carnivals on Anzac Days during the war and perhaps a victor on the sporting field twisted this cork.

The cork rests beside an African mask in the vitrine. Closer inspection reveals this to be made from chocolate. Specifically, it is a replica of a Dan mask from the Ivory Coast in 75% cocoa made by chocolatier Pierre Hermé in Paris. Apparently unintentionally, the mask embodies colonisation: the havoc wrought on local communities and cultures by western expansion in search of cash crops and other resources.

Side-by-side in a showcase, the deliberate placement of two such different objects invites reflection on the unimaginable complexity and unpredictably of consequences of historical events. This is the principle on which the exhibition ‘Sanctuary: Tombs of the outcasts’ rests: museological presentation entices us to seek connections and logic between items on display. And when this is not obvious from their form, or provided via labels, it opens up a space for consideration and reflection... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

In the mind of others, 2015. Victorian redgum, carbonised redgum, glass, brass, brass breastplate. Collection of the artist, Melbourne. Photograph Christian Capurro.

In the mind of others, 2015. Victorian redgum, carbonised redgum, glass, brass, brass breastplate. Collection of the artist, Melbourne. Photograph Christian Capurro.

Harvest, 2015. Details. Sculpture, Victorian redgum, carbonised Victorian redgum, glass, brass.

Harvest, 2015. Details. Sculpture, Victorian redgum, carbonised Victorian redgum, glass, brass. Contents: University of Melbourne Archives; Map Collections, University of Melbourne; Zoology Collection, University of Melbourne, Ballieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne; Rare Books Collection, University of Melbourne; The University of Melbourne Art Collection; and the artist’s archive. Collection of the artist, Melbourne. Photograph Christian Capurro.