Myles Russell Cook

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Detail from Percy Leason, Thomas Foster, 1934, oil on canvas, 76.0 x 60.8 cm, State Library Victoria, Melbourne. Gift of Mrs Isabelle Leason, 1969 (H32094) © Max Leason

Friday essay: painting ‘The Last Victorian Aborigines’

Myles Russell Cook, The University of Melbourne

Anthropologist Percy Leason thought he was painting the extinction of Victoria’s Indigenous people in the 1930s. He was wrong, but his portraits, part of a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, are surprisingly sympathetic.
Aboriginal elder Major Sumner sits outside Liverpool’s World Museum with a box containing the skull of an Australian indigenous person, taken from Australia between 1902 and 1904. Phil Noble/Reuters

Museums are returning indigenous human remains but progress on repatriating objects is slow

Myles Russell Cook, The University of Melbourne and Lynette Russell, Monash University

The question of repatriating objects is clearly more complex than returning human remains. It needs more debate, and more creative interventions to move beyond the current impasse.
Koori women Treahna Hamm, Vicki Couzens and Lee Darroch wear ‘Biaganga’, traditional possum coats at the Melbourne Museum’s Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Melbourne. Julian Smith/AAP

How living museums are ‘waking up’ sleeping artefacts

Myles Russell Cook, Swinburne University of Technology

Museums are cracking open the temperature-controlled, dehumidified display cases and inviting people in. Working with Aboriginal communities is reawakening cultural connections and ancient art forms.
Hip-hop artist 360 caused a stir this week with his comments on the Southern Cross. AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy

Take back the stars and wear the Southern Cross with pride

Myles Russell Cook, Swinburne University of Technology

Australian hip-hop artist and rapper 360 (Matt Colwell) caused an uproar earlier in the week when he said on Q&A that he identified the Australian flag and the Southern Cross with racism. 360 announced…
Swift is privileged, as only apex predators are, with the ability to pick and choose from any (cultural) food source. EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga

Taylor Swift is the great white shark of pop music

Myles Russell Cook, Swinburne University of Technology

In the same week American rapper Nicki Minaj released Anaconda, a music video dedicated to celebrating “the butt”, US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released a video, Shake It Off, accidentally dedicated…
Carly Sheppard is performing in Melbourne as part of Next Wave. Gregory Lorenzutti

White Face – some notes from a fair‑skinned Aboriginal

Myles Russell Cook, Swinburne University of Technology

Carly Sheppard’s latest work, White Face playing as part of Melbourne’s Next Wave festival this week, is a contemporary performance addressing personal experiences as a fair-skinned Aboriginal person based…
Desert Designs showcase their unique aesthetic in Sydney this week. Ryan Kitching

A hot new model at the Australian Indigenous Fashion Week

Myles Russell Cook, Swinburne University of Technology

It’s not difficult to find reference to Indigenous ethnographic designs in contemporary Australia. Motifs from Adelaide’s Balarinji Design Studios coat Qantas’ Boeing fleet and elders wore Victorian possum…
Of course, there is no singular Indigenous Australia. Angelo Soulas/AAP

What is Indigenous Australia in 2013?

Elizabeth Dori Tunstall, Swinburne University of Technology

What is Indigenous Australia in 2013? To begin to answer this question, I believe it is important to proceed with a few key caveats: 1) There is no singular Indigenous Australia. Thus, anything written…

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