Title: Fruit bats
1991
Artist: Lin Onus
Australia
1948-1996
Media category: Sculpture
Dimensions: 250.0 x 250.0 x 250.0 cm
overall
Fruit bats 1991 is made up of fiberglass sculptures of bats
decorated with rarrk (cross-hatching) hanging on a Hills Hoist clothes line. Under
the Hills Hoist icon there is wooden discs designed by dot painting which
representing bats’ dropping. Fruit bats sculpture is a mixed contemporary and
traditional Aboriginal artwork.
The reason that I liked and impressed by this artwork was
that in this artwork the artist shows different between two culture and the
contrast between values. In this artwork aboriginals have been shown as hanging
bats on Hills Hoist which is an invention of Australia representing western culture.
By this artwork the artist means that according to Australian people,
Aboriginals are all the same and one group, nasty and noisy like fruit bats. Beyond
to this the artist decorated each individual fruit bats by different
cross-hatching which shows that they are not the same, they have different
groups, languages, stories and from different places. They artist shows that
they have been hated by Australians and their natural way of living have been
destroyed. As in naturally fruit bats living in tree branches, but by the time
trees had been cut down and their nest had been destroyed so they have gathered
on clothesline. the same it happened to Aboriginals and that is why they have
gathered in small town.