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Published by CompNet Systems on

That’s Not Yours

This work, ‘That’s not yours’ reflects on the impacts of resource extraction on Country, memory, and culture. In this work, I combine acrylic with natural mediums, including River clay collected across Yorta Yorta Country, to anchor the painting in the land itself. Hand-stitched glass beads traverse the surface, representing the environmental and cultural damage caused by mining, particularly sand mining, which continues to disrupt the ecosystems, waterways, and cultural sites of my Country. Over this layered surface, I have inscribed an early map, drawn from nineteenth-century texts documenting the villages and land allotments of the Rodney Shire near Tatura and Toolamba, places tied to my family and ancestral connections. By layering historical cartography with natural and symbolic materials, the work situates the contemporary consequences of extractive practices within a broader narrative of colonisation and dispossession. This work is an attempt to confront the histories of settler extraction and the ongoing impacts of mining on our lands. Through materials, mapping, and storytelling, I aim to make visible what has been taken and assert the resilience and sovereignty of my people and our Country. ‘That’s not yours’ positions memory, history, and environment in dialogue, articulating the entangled consequences of colonisation and industrial exploitation on Country.

Categories: Kaiela Arts Shepparton

Name: Chloe Jones

Language: Yorta Yorta

Biography:

Chloe is a proud First Nations Yorta Yorta artist and freelance creative, and more recently an emerging writer and curator based in Naarm (Melbourne). She is currently completing a Bachelor of Art History & Curation at Monash University, which has allowed her to expand her knowledge and opportunities in the contemporary Indigenous Australian arts sector. Chloe has been a member of Kaiela Arts since 2020 and currently holds a position as a board member, the Treasurer, and artist. She has also specialised in the contemporary Indigenous commercial sector for the last few years, working specifically within the secondary market at a leading commercial gallery in Melbourne, D’Lan Contemporary, gaining valuable market insights into the Contemporary Indigenous art market. Additionally, Chloe has engaged in commercial collaborations with various brands, both in Australia and internationally. Chloe believes that these valuable opportunities and insights offer her the chance to help educate other fellow First Nations artists and creatives and hopefully give them the opportunity to have more agency and self-determination to become successful artists and leaders within this industry. 

Chloe's art practice is often research based relying on archival material and records. Chloe says: Through my practice I hope to confront head-on the poignant realities inherent to my identity as a mixed-race individual of Southern-Eastern Aboriginal descent. I grapple with the enduring consequences of past injustices inflicted upon my communities, recognising that certain facets of cultural knowledge may forever elude my grasp. Consequently, in my latest body of work, I consciously restrict myself to drawing inspiration solely from a select few culturally resonant symbols and motifs that have endured within my community's collective memory. Deliberately, I employ a technique wherein I fill the interstices between these symbols, creating bold, delineated shapes reminiscent of a blanket concealing dormant cultural knowledge.

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© the artist / art centre