Horror Has A Face

Abstract

The title of this photographic series refers to the film Apocalypse Now, which was loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness. Over time, like a bowerbird, I've collected bits and pieces of historical information, quotes and archival images. Set in the late-1800s, the resulting artworks are vignettes of narratives I found. Through the use of detailed costuming and precise set designs, my photographs offer re-enactments of selected incidents. This series is focused on two central characters: Archibald Meston and Ernest Gribble — and the succeeding narratives ripple out from them. These two protagonists strode onto the historical stage and became central to Queensland's The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897. Archibald Meston became the Southern Protector of Aborigines and Reverend Ernest Gribble was instrumental in running Anglican missions across the state. Meston and Gribble had active roles in shaping the destinies of many Aboriginal lives through their ideologies, experiments and methods of isolation. Rendered herein, featuring a largely Aboriginal cast, are some of my thoughts on Colonial vice and profiteering. The various scenes address themes of daily life, control, addiction, assimilation, fear, survival and strength of character. Until 1897, opium use in Queensland was both widespread and legal. Major and minor narrative threads are plotted throughout, repeatedly using props such as a wooden box and a kangaroo skin. In one photograph, Meston settles in a bush camp where his gun is “shown” in order to exercise control. This scene is permeated by wafts of arrogance — as pervasive as smoke from the campfire. My research has revealed that Meston was a man of contradictions. Significant Colonial attitudinal changes occurred within his lifetime and he progressed from potshot killer to Protector of Aborigines.