Please note: this event has passed
The British justification for the conquest of Australia rested on the legal fiction of terra nullius (“land belonging to no one”).
Two significant exhibitions of contemporary Aboriginal art are being held during this year of cultural exchange between the UK and Australia. The first, at Tate Modern in London, focusses on the legal overturning of terra nullius by the High Court of Australia in 1992. The second exhibition, held at the site from which the dispossession originated (Plymouth), will showcase the award-winning Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters, first staged at the National Museum of Australia in 2017-18.
To mark these two events, King’s College London will host a presentation which examines key artworks from both exhibitions and the complex contemporary legal, political and civilisational consequences of Britain’s colonial expansion.
The event, held on 17 November, will feature Arjmand Aziz, a doctoral candidate at SOAS University of London.
Speaker
Arjmand Aziz has honours degrees in Political Science and Law from the Australian National University and an MA in Art History from SOAS. She is a final year doctoral candidate at SOAS researching the representation of contemporary Australian Aboriginal art in private London galleries.