Untitled (ZVDG)

‘Untitled (ZVDG)’ 2014 is drawn from Boyd’s presentation at the 2014 Kochi-Muziris Biennale (12 December 2014 – 29 March 2015). Curated by artist Jitish Kallat and titled Whorled Explorations, this exhibition brought together ‘sensory and conceptual propositions that map our world referencing history, geography, cosmology, time, space, dreams and myths.’

Boyd’s contribution created a conceptual link between Kochi and Australia through the travels of Vasco De Gama. De Gama had extorted gold coins from the King of Kilwa, East Africa, which mysteriously turned up in Northern Australia. The potential movement of these coins from Africa to India and Australia could be linked to celestial navigation, pointing to possible international connections and trade with Australia prior to the arrival of the British (and Macassans). As Boyd has stated: ‘This points to the spice trade routes which helped connect different landscapes. This opens up discussions about pre-colonial British contact in Northern Australia.’ To refer to this in his presentation Boyd created paintings of Polynesian constellations maps and of the gold coins, which were displayed alongside ‘Untitled (ZVDG)’. This major work is based on an engraving of an 1898 Portuguese painting showing Vasco Da Gama’s meeting with the Zamorin of Calicut and is painted in Boyd’s signature style or employing tonal graduations and dots to give a sense of shifting light on the landscape.