I Hate Australia
INSTALLATION · 2004 · CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE
An exhibition about social division and the insidiousness of nationalism.
At Canberra Contemporary Art Space, this was an installation of a huge wall painting on the main wall: “I HATE AUSTRALIA”. There was a barbeque with 6 sausages and 2 small sausages (6 states and 2 territories), a video of a suburban pool, a black wall with the repeated inscriptions, “I must learn to love my country” and a flag in reverse with the background noise of a slow whistle of the national anthem. Then there was a mobile wall where visitors could write “sorry” in red, yellow or black pen. At the end of the show it was chock full. Many tend to romanticise the Howard years but we may need to research into how many of his policies have caused so many of the problems today, including the cost of housing crisis.
