Dark Mofo has released a statement, announcing the cancellation of Spanish artist Santiago Sierra’s piece, ‘Union Flag’, from the 2021 instalment of their festival.
The artwork plans were unveiled over the weekend, as one of the key acts of the MONA’s annual Hobart festival. The artwork proposed that the Union Jack be immersed in the donated blood of 83 First Nations people.
In anticipation of the event, Sierra published an open letter, offering to fly one randomly selected participant from each colonised country — like Aotearoa, Fiji and Canada — to donate a small amount of blood at a Hobart medical facility.
“The First Nations people of Australia suffered enormously and brutally from British colonialism,” Sierra writes. “The intent of this project is against colonialism and a denouncement of the pain and destruction it has caused the First Nations people, devastating entire cultures and civilisations.”
Whilst the project received support from local Tasmanian Aboriginal groups — it incited widespread backlash across First Nations people on a national scale. Artists, musicians and those in academia all took to social media to rally against the artwork.
Musicians Briggs and Kira Puru, who are of Indigenous Australian and Māori descent, took to Instagram to criticise the project. “We already gave enough blood,” Briggs wrote in a comment. Whilst Puru added that she thought the Dark Mofo “would be better than that”.
“What a way to reveal that there are no First Nations folks in your curatorial/consulting teams,” Puru continued. “White people further capitalising on the literal blood of First Nations people. Are you fucking kidding?”
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Nala Mansell said the performance was “a great opportunity to raise awareness of the massacres” of First Nations people, but took umbrage with the festival’s request for Indigenous blood.
“I think Aboriginal people have had a lot of blood spilt over the last 200 years,” she said. “I understand the idea of blood on the flag, but I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to be calling for Aboriginal people to be donating blood when we have already had enough blood spilt as it is.
“I just think there might be other ways of signifying the blood that was spilt without having to ask Aboriginal people to do so.”
Last night, Dark Mofo released a statement, indicating plans to continue showing the artwork, “Self-expression is a fundamental human right, and we support artists to make and present work regardless of their nationality or cultural background,” Creative Director Leigh Carmichael wrote.
We’ve been overwhelmed with responses to Santiago Sierra’s Union Flag by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from…
Posted by Dark Mofo on Sunday, 21 March 2021
“We’ve heard the community’s response to Santiago Sierra’s Union Flag. In the end the hurt that will be caused by proceeding isn’t worth it,” Carmichael wrote.
“We made a mistake, and take full responsibility. The project will be cancelled. We apologise to all First Nations people for any hurt that has been caused. We are sorry.”
We’ve heard the community’s response to Santiago Sierra’s Union Flag. In the end the hurt that will be caused by…
Posted by Dark Mofo on Monday, 22 March 2021
