THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK AND OTHER COLONIAL CATASTROPHES from the series RED COATS + INDIANS : the games we play
2019-20
Archival digital pigment print on photo rag paper, taxidermy butterfly
144 x 110cm
Greg Semu (b. 1971, New Zealand) is an autodidact who works in the field of photography and visual arts. Through his use of medium, the artist negotiates and navigates issues of social justice, inequality, the ongoing residue of colonial history and other enforced atrocities. By highlighting indigenous and aboriginal communities around the world, Semu creates works that address and provoke intensive dialogue and communication around the experience of the colonised and displaced. He is particularly interested in the suffering, anger, and demoralisation that is inherited and nurtured between generations. The historical severing of genealogies from their native land, the origin of phrases like 'terra nullius' (meaning ‘nobody’s land’), the forced proliferation of Christianity, and any other religious, political or scientifically superior narratives that are perpetuated are key points of focus for Semu. In his work, The Death of Captain Cook and other Colonial Catastrophes from his ‘Red Coats + Indians’ series, Semu unpacks the discovery of the ‘new world’ by Captain Cook and engages directly with the living residue of his ancestral past, present and emerging future through performance-based photographic capture. Semu has held numerous solo exhibitions, including Red Coats + Indians, The Games we Play, TaiTung (2019) during his artist residency; Blood RED, Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns (2017); The Raft of the Tagata Pasifika (People of the Pacific), NGV International, Victoria (2016); and Collection + : Greg SEMU, SCAF / Sherman Contemporary Arts Foundation, Sydney (2016).
AWARDS
2021
Finalist/Sovereign Asian Art Prize, HONG KONG
