Collection
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art
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Artist
Brenda L Croft
Australia
1964 -
Language groups
Gurindji, Fitzmaurice region, Mudpurra, Fitzmaurice region, Malngin, Fitzmaurice
Artist profile
About
'Strange fruit' was first exhibited in 1994 at The Performance Space, in partnership with Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative. The title, 'Strange fruit', is drawn from the Billie Holiday song about the racial atrocities that occurred in the deep south of America, but also considers the use of the term 'hybridity' in relation to contemporary arts practice with cross-pollinated images of racial identity.
In the initial installation, the images were intimate in scale and displayed in conjunction with native and introduced species of fruit and flowers that rotted during the exhibition, while a looped sound-piece comprising the overlaid voices of the women depicted, continuously played. This rich sensory experience played with the notion of 'strange fruit' and what this may be.
The works exhibited here are on a much larger scale. Each of the images provides an intimate portrait of one of Croft's friends assuming a specific character, including Billie Holiday. The work refers to the classification and preconceptions of who is actually of Aboriginal heritage and what an Aboriginal person is supposed to look like in contemporary Australian society.
Details
Date
1994
Materials used
cibachrome photograph
Dimensions
168.7 x 117.8 x 2.5 cm frame; 152.0 101.0 cm sight
Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by the Young Friends of the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales 1994
Location
Not on display
Accession number
171.1995.4


Place
Where the work was made
Sydney
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Exhibition history
Another Country, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Jul 1999–02 Apr 2000
Half light: portraits from black Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 Nov 2008–22 Feb 2009
Referenced in 1 publication
Bibliography
Jane Somerville, Look, 'Where to now, Contempo?', pg.28-31, Sydney, Jul 2007, 29.