Indigenous artist seeking white Australian to donate their “future deceased body” to an art installation
An Indigenous artist has put a call out for Australians of “British descent” to donate their “future deceased body” to an art installation.
Nathan Maynard, a well known Palawa artist and playwright, put an advertisement for the unusual request in the weekend edition of The Age newspaper.
Maynard signed the bizarre request as a “palawa” artist: one of the terms First Nations people from Tasmania use when referring to themselves.
“Palawa artist wanting to find an Australian of British descent who is willing to donate their future deceased body to an art installation,” the notice read.
“The work will speak to sacrifice for past sins perpetrated against the palawa. Potential applicants should see this opportunity as an honour.”
“The body and memory of the successful applicant will be treated with the utmost respect at all stages of the project.”
The call-out was quick to spark backlash when it was reposted on social media, with one writing, “You can’t just obtain bodies for display in newspapers now. This is very bizarre on multiple levels.”
Others questioned the legality of the request, with one person writing, “I dunno that this would be legal, tampering with a corpse is a crime! You can donate your body to medical science, but I don’t think this.”
Another wrote, “Borderline psychotic, definitely completely illegal.”
Despite the criticism, Mr Maynard told Daily Mail Australia that since the notice went to print, he has received half a dozen applications for their body to be used in the installation in November.
The artist said if white Australians are upset by the request, they should ask themselves why they didn't have the same reaction to the mass murder of Aboriginal people.
“If you’re not an Aboriginal person and you’re upset by this, I think you should ask yourself why you’re not upset that there is still First Nations remains that have been stolen from their people, stolen from their country in institutions all around the world that are still not repatriated to their own communities,” he said.
Nathan said the motivation behind his installation revolves around the fact that thousands of First Nations people were killed by colonists, with their remains being sent overseas to be displayed in institutions and museums without a proper ceremony.
“So many Aboriginal people's remains are still overseas. People are trying to bring their ancestors home and they are being denied that right,” Mr Maynard said.
“Human bodies are very sacred and they should be treated with respect.”
“Whitefellas obviously don't know how to handle remains with respect, so I'm going to show them how,” he said.
The artwork has already received support from the state-funded Tasmanian Museum and Gallery and the Hobart City Council, which has donated $15,000 to the unusual installation.
The artwork has been commissioned to appear as part of an exhibition for the popular Hobart Current biennial exhibition in November 2023.
Image credits: Facebook / The Age