Where do you come from, brother boy?
A number of interrelated Eastern Arrernte Aboriginal families have peopled the art and life of Alice Springs artist Rod Moss for the last twelve years. Known informally as the 'White Gate mob', after the distinguishing feature of their squatted camp on the outskirts of town, the families have come to call Moss "their painter" and to participate with enthusiasm in the creation of the works. Relationship, accumulated experience and knowledge are the foundation of this body of work.
Where Do You Come From, Brother Boy?, an exhibition drawing on Moss's output of the last four years, was striking for the fullness of the life experiences represented. There were many images of people, both adults and children, going about everyday life, at work and at play, and mostly together. They were the same closely linked group across three and four generations, variously exuberant, amused, ironic, proud, matter-of-fact, thoughtful, sombre, depressed, and anguished. Images of Aboriginal people at the positive end of this emotional scale are rare, in whatever media, if we exclude the clichés of laughing children and romanticised views of "Indigenous people in harmony with nature". At the negative end, on the other hand, we are presented with only too many, and usually within a "them and us" framework. Moss's images of suffering amongst the White Gate families avoid this kind of delineation. This is evident even in the earliest painting in this exhibition, a portrait of Xavier Neal. It is not an image of suffering but of friendship. These Neals, Johnsons and Hayes whom we see suffering from alcohol abuse, from the calamity of relationships or their loss in death are the same Neals, Johnsons and Hayes whom we