Dr Vincent Alessi, Curatorial Manager at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne explains the role of sport in the cultural identity of Australia, and how this can be explored through art.
In 2011 I organised for a group of thirty international delegates to attend an AFL game as part of their cultural induction to Australia and in particular Melbourne. This was no ordinary football match. It was, for those abreast of their AFL history, a battle of heavyweights: Carlton versus Collingwood at a sold out MCG.
Within the first few minutes, our guests, as expected, were curious to understand the rules of the game and where at all possible the nuances of this strange spectacle. Left to a colleague, a sociologist, a group of the delegates were instead schooled on the social history, the cultural context and the endless metaphorical readings of the game.
Carlton was a side which represented the elites, the bluebloods of society, and included in their supporters a number of distinguished business-people and even a prime minister. Collingwood, on the other hand, a suburb geographically a kick away from Carlton, was a club for the working class, the knock-about larrikin, supported throughout its history by both petty and heavy criminals and other notorious types.
According to said sociologist, the history of spitefulness and at times open hatred between these two old clubs had at its core the social hierarchy of class, and while times had changed and Australia had become a nation populated in the majority by the middle class, these old identity politics were difficult to shed.
The explanation of the game continued, described as a chaotic sort of ballet where the narrative included hope, tragedy and above all else, a primeval battle between two sides seeking a position of power for their tribe. The sub-plots included characters that had triumphed against all odds, born leaders who willed their teams to greatness, traitors and loyalists, and those who had fallen from grace and were seeking redemption.
This game was more than a sport. It was culturally significant for the city from which it had grown to become a national icon, shaping its conversations and energy throughout the winter and spring months. It provided people with an identity and a community to which to belong. It was a microcosm of the world in which we lived, dealing with everything from violence, racism, sexism, drug and alcohol use and destabilising characteristics such as greed, narcissism and selfishness.
Such a view, while arguably framed within an academic construct, is an important aspect in understanding not only the national game but many other sports which are played throughout the year by both amateurs and professionals. Rugby union has always been seen as the domain of private school boys, while its close sibling, rugby league, is for the working class. Polo is for the rich, lawn bowls for the old, cycling for middle class middle-aged men, and soccer, at least in this country, a game loved by European immigrants. While many of these assertions are based on stereotypes, they are founded in the history of these sports, and where they have traditionally fitted into societal hierarchies and constructs. Sport is not only entertainment and participatory, it is a powerful window through which we can view, assess and understand all societies; and in that context it is not far removed from that thing we call “high culture”: art.
The Basil Sellers Art Prize is unique and important because it understands this complexity. It clearly asserts that art and sport can be uttered in the same sentence and that people can comfortably move between one and the other. Moreover, it champions the ideal that the exhibition is an entry to the art world for those who are not regular viewers, and likewise, an introduction to sport for those who neither participate nor watch.
In this year’s Basil Sellers Art Prize artists have tackled sports as far reaching as boxing, surfing, horse-racing, cricket and Australian Rules football. However, the works go beyond mere depiction, instead using the sport as a vehicle to investigate greater issues such as racism, sexism, community and notions of discipline, nation-building and identity.
Tony Albert addresses inherent generational racism towards Indigenous Australians. Taking signature moments of protest in sport as their starting point, Daddy’s Little Girl (after Gordon Bennett) (2010) and Once Upon a time (2013-14) reveal how even in the field of professional sport where Indigenous people excel and are celebrated racism continues to linger on both sides of the fence. The first work responds to the story of an NRL coach excusing his reference to an Indigenous player as a “black c…” as merely a casual remark with no malice. The second work was made post the crowd abuse directed towards AFL footballer Adam Goodes; twenty-one years after Nicky Winmar famously lifted his football jumper and proudly pointed to his black skin after a day of endless abuse. The four year period between the making of both works, while short, is nonetheless analogous with ongoing racism in the community; how it is a learnt behaviour handed down from generation to generation, and the ultimate slowness of stamping out such views and behaviour in society more broadly.
A number of artists investigate the challenging topic of ongoing sexism. Fiona McMonagle’s delicately crafted watercolours of female boxers defy both the physicality of the sport and the contentious debate surrounding its appropriateness and legitimacy. The work makes comment on the absence of the sport in professional competitions – female boxing was only included in the Olympics in 2012 – and by extension the issue of equality of women in sport.
Rob McHaffie’s cubist-inspired paintings of female tennis players reveals the objectification and stereotyping present in the reporting of female sport. Created from images and events sourced from the 2013 Australian Open, McHaffie amplifies the shallowness of the simplification and characterising of three stars of the court. He posits Victoria Azarenka as cold, spoilt, a cheat and unloved against the charming, beautiful and universally-liked Maria Sharapova, as if these qualities superseded their technical and skilful exploits. Likewise his painting of Serena Williams, one of tennis’ most accomplished players, depicts her smashing a racquet on court, an act which dominated headlines and framed her as a temperamental female rather than a frustrated and highly competitive sports-person.
Sport and particular sporting moments have come to define a nation and have played roles in shaping identity, both collectively and individually. Jenny Watson pays tribute to the race horse Black Caviar who, like Phar Lap, decades earlier became a national hero and a source of hope and enjoyment in times of financial crisis.
Noel McKenna’s painting revisiting cricketer Trevor Chappell’s famous underarm delivery against New Zealand depicts a moment of madness and cowardice which has ensured those involved are now recognised as a source for the ongoing tone of mistrust, antagonism and competition between Australia and New Zealand.
Narelle Autio, like Will McKinnon and Gerry Wedd, turns to the ocean, that great definer of Australia’s national identity, for her large scale photographs. Seductive in their composition and aquamarine tonality, they celebrate the role of Australia’s Surf Live Saving Clubs and in particular the colloquially named Nippers. These works are as much a homage to those photographed as they are to what they represent: a free spirited, water bound, sun-loving Australia.
Artists throughout art history have depicted sport as both spectacle and metaphor. While often argued that these two pursuits are somehow polar opposites and in constant competition for relevance, the Basil Sellers Art Prize takes the lead in challenging this position. Both art and sport are culturally important in their own ways. They play significant roles in community, in personal and joint enrichment and enjoyment, in helping us to understand more about ourselves, and most importantly, in comprehending and analysing the world in which we play.
Dr Vincent Alessi
Curatorial Manager
Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne
Image credits:
Tony Albert
born Townsville, Queensland, 1981; lives Sydney
Once upon a time… (detail) 2014
mixed media on paper
installation (variable): 200 x 300 cm
© Courtesy the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney
Fiona McMonagle
born Letterkenny, Ireland, 1977; lives Melbourne
The ring (video still) 2014
single channel HD video
colour, sound
© Courtesy the artist, Olsen Irwin, Sydney; and Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne
Rob McHaffie
born Melbourne 1978, lives Melbourne
Women’s semis (detail) 2014
oil on canvas
triptych; 84 x 56 cm, 84 x 56 cm, 92 x 92 cm
© Courtesy the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
Narelle Autio
born Adelaide 1969, lives Adelaide
Nipper II 2013
type C photograph
110 x 160 cm (sheet)
edition 1 of 5
© Courtesy the artist, Stills Gallery, Sydney; and Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide
William Mackinnon
born Melbourne 1978, lives Melbourne
The passage 2014
synthetic polymer paint, oil and automotive paint on canvas
300 x 200 cm
© Courtesy the artist and Utopian Slumps, Melbourne
Gerry Wedd
born McLaren Vale, South Australia, 1957; lives Adelaide
Nat verses Midge 2014
earthenware
60 x 45 x 45 cm
© Courtesy the artist