jonathon bottrell jones, ruark lewis, romaine moreton and nuha saad
"Yearning hurts and what release may come of it feels much like death ... "Heraclitus: 544 BC
Reckonings 2001 is described as bringing together 'four indigenous and non-indigenous artists in an attempt to explore the possibilities of breaking the current political impasse over reconciliation'. The political dialogue surrounding this installation aims to define the undefinable, that being, what is the practice of politics in art, how does it emerge as a meeting point for discussion and change? The ever present issues of 'resistance as logical response' seemed embedded in the work of these four artists. Redfern {the Sydney suburb) was used in this work as a point of arrival and departure; video images of Redfern Station and streets were projected amongst the objects, representing aspects of a miasmic urban moral dilemma. Redfern is an appropriate choice for exploring a politics of place and allowing Aboriginality to be the dominant theme, alongside elements of other cultural aspects of the area.
Redfern is an appropriate choice of the soul, a place that embraces time, chaos and heritage. Redfern also has been labelled the Koori Capital and the terrain of the Eora Gadigal people. At the same time, it is a vortex of whirling meshes of racism, pride, belonging, exile and alienation. What Reckonings attempts to do is describe the measurement of these themes against the infinite. Redfern is a place of yearning, the yearning for the
things that many Australians access without questions: a home, a place to be left in peace. The four artists, from different backgrounds, undertook a series of meetings in the months before the Reckonings installation and forums, to explore the themes outlined above. These meeting