Dennis Golding
Dennis Golding
Dennis Golding is a Kamilaroi/ Gamilaraay artist who lives and works in Sydney.
Describe the experience of the period of isolation for you.
At these times, I feel the need to reflect and rethink strategies for the work that I do. I’m inspired by the world and our communities in coming together to support one another. I’m so thankful for the support that I’ve received since I have lost a large amount of work. I’m hopeful for the future and am eager to take on new challenges.
I think of my family, friends and colleagues. I want to inspire them during these times and I feel that my work can heal, bring joy, protest and empower our stories and experiences.
What does your book represent and how did you approach the challenge?
As an artist I’m inspired to make, make, think and make! This is definitely a time to be creative and current situations between public health emergencies and civil rights movements allow me to think of ways to share stories of health, recovery, protest and healing.
Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist Dennis Golding develops a practice that pursues a critical view of social, political and cultural representations of Aboriginal Australian history and contemporary experiences. Often referencing science-fictional narratives through the visual motif of the cape, Golding explores varying relationships between pop cultural figures such as superheroes and Australian colonial histories. Golding's work thereby challenges categorical boundaries from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous experiences led by a difference of race, culture, social class and history.
Dennis has experienced working as an assistant curator, in which he was mentored by lead curator, Tess Allas in Under Pressure, 2017 at the Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. He also worked as an assistant curator for Ngurrambaa, 2018 at Murray Art Museum Albury. During his studies, he worked part time as one of the First Nations Creative Producers at Australian Design Centre. Over the past four years, Dennis has achieved a number of awards for excellence in tertiary education including the UNSW Art & Design Aboriginal Art Scholarship award (2014), UNSW Art & Design Spirit Award (2015), UNSW Art & Design Academic Excellence Award (2016) and the Jenny Birt Highly Commended Art Award (2017) and the 2020 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship.
View Dennis Golding's journal here:
Image: Dennis Golding, Design/Isolate Journal (detail), 2020.