View 1: Australian Banquet, January 25/ 26, 1788
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January 26, 2020 1:20 pm
We are excited to announce that the British Library has recently acquired our artwork Australian Banquet, January 25/ 26, 1788.
In 2010 we wanted to make a work to comment and reflect on Australia Day and some of our feelings about the origins of the date – the implications of that event and the repercussions that we live with and navigate today. Through a scorchingly hot day in Toowoomba we worked with cyanotype solutions and selected objects – some from our home and others sourced from the food scraps from a local seafood smorgasbord restaurant on the day.
The work that we did that day emerged as the collaborative artists’ book, a broadsheet we titled, Australian Banquet, January 25/ 26, 1788.
We acknowledge the support in the negotiations with the British Library by our agent Helen Cole.
Across Australia over the January 26th long weekend, people prepare, cook and consume food to mark this day in history.
For us, this work is our response to, and in recognition of, the ‘turning of the page’ in Australian history that this date represents. One day, January 25th 1788, Aboriginal people feasted on a diverse banquet of bush tucker as they had for thousands of years. The next day, the country was transformed by a new paradigm represented in this work by the table setting of the First Fleet.
Australia Day, for us, is an important time to acknowledge the First Peoples’ perspective and their knowing of land, culture and history and how it should be recognised as underpinning the diversity and identity of contemporary Australia. We, as descendants of European people, are seeking to understand and know more about our place within the longer history of this land.
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View 1: Australian Banquet, January 25/ 26, 1788
The 25th of January side of the broadsheet is viewed and contemplated.
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View 2: Australian Banquet, January 25/ 26, 1788
The broadsheet is then turned over to view the 26th of January side.
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View 3: Australian Banquet, January 25/ 26, 1788
Finally the broadsheet is held up to the light – the complex interrelationship between the two visual references to be seen and considered.
BOOK DESCRIPTION: A unique state artists’ book broadsheet
TITLE: Australian Banquet January 25/26, 1788
MEDIA: Double-sided cyanotype image in rice paper
DIMENSIONS: 37.6 x 77cm
PLACE & DATE MADE: Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, 2010
EDITION: 7 unique state variants
![2014 – EXHIBITED: Artist’s Books (reprised) [artists’ books 1978-2014]: George Paton Gallery, University of Melbourne](https://i0.wp.com/wotwedid.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/spowart-gallery-installation-p8270826-1000.jpg?w=98&h=73&ssl=1 "2014 – EXHIBITED: Artist’s Books (reprised) [artists’ books 1978-2014]: George Paton Gallery, University of Melbourne")
2020 COLLECTION: British Library
2015 EXHIBITED: Books by Artists – The Webb Gallery as part of the Artists Book Brisbane Event, Conference at the Queensland College of Art, Brisbane
2014 EXHIBITED: Artist’s Books (reprised) [artists’ books 1978-2014] – George Paton Gallery, University of Melbourne
2014 EXHIBITED: Alternative Imaging – Curated by Dawne Fahey at Two Doors Gallery, The Rocks, Sydney
2011: COLLECTION: Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland
2011 SHORTLISTED: Southern Cross University Artists’ Book Award, Lismore. Judge: Ross Woodrow
2011 EXHIBITED: BLUE – Arts Council Toowoomba members exhibition, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery
2010 AWARD WINNER: Martin Hanson Awards, Gladstone Regional Art Gallery – Works on Paper
2010 EXHIBITED: Art Bound – Red Gallery, Glebe, Sydney
2010 FINALIST: Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Photography Award – Gold Coast City Gallery. Judge: Judy Annear
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Text and © Doug Spowart+Victoria Cooper
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Posted by Cooper+Spowart
Categories: Artists Books, Cyanotypes, Wot happened on this day
Tags: 1788, artists' book cyanotype, Australia Day comment, Australia Day in art, colonial Australia, cyanotype, Helen Cole, invasion day, January 25/ 26, View 1: Australian Banquet
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Congratulations to you both! How exciting! It’s well deserved – a wonderful piece of work.
By AmandaWW on January 26, 2020 at 2:05 pm
Thank you Amanda…
By Cooper+Spowart on January 26, 2020 at 7:10 pm
Such a clever idea and a beautiful work of art. Wonderful
By Robert Ashdown on January 26, 2020 at 2:05 pm
Thank you Robert….
By Cooper+Spowart on January 26, 2020 at 7:11 pm
Spectacular, beautiful work.
By Robert Ashdown on December 7, 2023 at 9:09 am