South Morang-based artist John Duggan is not a full-time practising artist. He’s a Museum Victoria employee and an archaeology student with a wealth of knowledge about his indigenous heritage. But the passion and dedication Duggan has for his ancestry has put him in the running to win one of the state’s top art awards. He’s been nominated for the 2013 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards for his installation piece,
Tools of the trade: ‘Hunter’.
“Most of the material in my work is based on tradition,” he says. “All of it has been crafted in a traditional way – pressure flaking and percussion flaking, binding and cementing with traditional resins and stringy bark.”
Duggan says traditional methods leave distinct markers on the final product, and the practice is something that should be “acknowledged and encouraged” in indigenous and non-indigenous communities.
Duggan honours his ancestors through his art.
“It’s important to maintain tradition,” he says. “I would hate to think that we would lose the techniques and knowledge that people have been practising for over 50,000 years.”
His mother was born and bred in Moree, New South Wales, and his father came from Waterfall in southern Sydney. But Duggan says it was the uncles on his mother’s side who taught him many things about his heritage. “I have a lot of uncles and some maintained aspects of traditional knowledge,” he says.
Duggan has been with Museum Victoria for seven years, and five years ago he moved into his role as assistant collection manager for the Australian ethnographic collection, which encompasses all Aboriginal collections.
His interest in artefacts and collecting has led to his studying archaeology at La Trobe University in Bundoora. Busy with work and his art, Duggan has taken time off from study but it’s something he is keen to return to.
This is not the first time Duggan’s artistic ability has been recognised. He was shortlisted for the Indigenous Art Awards in 2008.
This year’s entry is a fusion of his indigenous heritage and the western culture in which he was raised. Tools of the trade: ‘Hunter’ is a modern-day steel toolbox filled with hand-crafted indigenous hunting tools made from stone, skin, wood, grass tree resin and kangaroo sinew. Duggan describes it as “a comparison of traditional tradecraft – hunting – and a modern-day tradie”.
Duggan aims to encourage an interest in indigenous culture and educate people, but he doesn’t consider himself an activist. He says his work is a quiet way of burning the flame for his people.
“It’s important to keep these traditions alive even though there is less need for such tools,” he says. “Stone spearheads, stone knives and hatchets are no longer practical in modern-day Australia. But by maintaining this knowledge we honour the old people of this land and strengthen the deep, rich history of Australia.”
Duggan says that history is something from which he draws a lot of strength, and it’s a pivotal part of his working and personal life.
Duggan’s artpiece can be seen at a free exhibition of finalists’ work at the Art Gallery of Ballarat from November 2 to December 8. The 2013 winner will be named on November 2. Online voting for the Arts Victoria People’s Choice Award will open on November 2 and continue until November 25.
» A full shortlist is available at www.indigenousartawards.com.au
