A Visual Journey thru Sydney's MCA

Situated on the edge of Circular Quay with sightlines to both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, the Sydney Contemporary Art Museum (MCA) delightfully blends the old, art deco-inspired sandstone Maritime Services Building with a sleek, modern extension that boldly declares its contemporary credentials.

 

Inside, the MCA is a treasure chest of contemporary art, showcasing a diverse range of works from Australian and international artists. Wandering through the various galleries, you'll find works by renowned Australian artists like Tracey Moffatt, Kevin Gilbert, and Alick Tipoti, alongside pieces by global contemporary icons. The museum’s dynamic collection spans painting, sculpture, photography, video, and installation art.

 

The MCA is unapologetically committed to diversity and presents a vibrant mosaic of Australian culture. The resulting mix is eclectic, challenging norms, sparking debate, and, hopefully, deepening our appreciation for contemporary art's cultural and social relevance. Installations are frequently bold, sometimes bewildering, and always thought-provoking.

The MCA aspires to do more than simply house art. It would like to become a platform for conversation about real-world issues, with each exhibition poking and prodding to generate thinking around climate change, gender equality, and human rights.

 

But the MCA isn't without its critics. Some argue that it lacks the breadth and depth of collections seen in more established international contemporary art museums. Compared to global giants like MoMA in New York or the Tate Modern in London, the MCA can seem more regional in its scope, even provincial. Its collection, while impressive, doesn't always feature the same level of historical depth or extensive representation of international artists found in these larger institutions.

 

Despite these perceptions, the MCA remains highly regarded within Australia. Innovative programming and engagement with contemporary issues make it a unique and valuable destination, as much about the stories behind the art as the art itself. Bold, brave, and unafraid to push boundaries, the MCA invites us to see the world through a different lens.

 

Here is a small sampling of some of the pieces we liked the most during our recent visit….

Remember Us, 2023 (Reko Rennie)

 

DLI = 551 | RCIADIC = Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

MCMXCI = 1991 | MMXXIII = 2023

 

Remember Us is a memorial to Aboriginal people who have died in police custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody final report was submitted in 1991. Since that report, little has changed, and the number of deaths continues to rise—a travesty of justice.

 

Why is this still occurring in 2023? And where is accountability from those in power?


Mawa I (Saral), 2010

Mawa II (Dhanga Moelpal), 2010

Mawa IV (Gapu), 2010

Mawa V (Wakanthamay), 2010

all Alick Tipoti

 

These sculptural masks are connected to Torres Strait Islander sacred men's business and ceremony, and they are among the largest works that the artist has created to date.

 

Originally carved from the shell of the hawksbill turtle, the traditional making of Mawa is restricted knowledge. In the context of ceremony, the spiritual Mawa are the conduits for communicating with ancestral spirits through ancient language and dance.


Kiacatoo, 1988 (Kevin Gilbert)

 

Kevin Gilbert was one of Aboriginal Australia’s most important cultural identities of the late 20th century. By the time he died in 1993, he had established himself as an artist, poet, author and political activist, his work playing a significant role in shaping Australian history during the most dynamic period in the long-term Aboriginal struggle for justice.

 

This poem graphically depicts the bloody massacre of the Gilbert's tribal ancestors in the rhyme and metre of many traditional Australian bush ballads. There were many massacres, some still remembered by place names such as Murdering Island in the Murrumbidgee River and Poisoned Waterholes Creek near Narrandera in New South Wales.


Colonising Species, 1989 (Kevin Gilbert)


Gunyan the crab on the beach at Djarrakpi, c1970s (Narritjin Maymuru)


Yingarna, yibarungkwa, viburada, and dungkwiyaya (snakes, fish, and kangaroos), c1950s (Thomas Nanjiwarra Amagula)


kul/karambu, 2020–2021 (Sancintya Mohini Simpson)

 

Focusing on the colonial sugarcane plantations in Kwazulu-Natal (South Africa), Simpson draws a parallel to "blackbirding" in early Australia, in which South Sea Islanders were tricked or taken by force to work as slaves on sugarcane plantations in Queensland.


Antara nanas and duri (Between the pineapple and the thorns), 2019 (Jumaadi)

Aku (I), 2019 (Jumaadi)

 

These two works originated in the poems written by individuals first sent to exile in Boven Digul, New Guinea, and then banished to Cowra, in the poems of Chairil Anwar, and in the silent and dry, green and unblemished landscapes.

 

 

Drawing on these historical events, the artist depicts stories of di splacement, repression, and violence but also of solidarity, resilience, and hope.


Maria’s Garden, 2021 (Simryn Gill)

 

Maria's Garden is a direct 1:1 record of a garden that once existed in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville. Using the technique of "nature printing," Gill recorded every type of plant in the garden of her neighbor Maria before it was demolished by property developers following Maria's death.

 

Maria's garden was reminiscent of her native Italy, planted for familiarity, kinship, and sustenance. Histories of botany, horticulture, migration, and image-making technologies underscore this graphic document, which opens up broader questions about human habitation and our relationships with the natural world.


First Jobs, 2008 (Tracey Moffatt)

 

 

 

Tracey Moffatt is one of Australia's most prominent artists. Her photographic series and film works have been widely acclaimed both nationally and internationally, and are regarded as transformative in the history of contemporary photography.

 

First Jobs  portrays the jobs the artist held as a teenager and as an art student in Brisbane in the 1970s and early 1980s.


Fourth #1–#26, 2001 (Tracey Moffatt)

 

Fourth documents the Sydney 2000 Olympics in an unusual way. Instead of photographing medal winners, Moffatt photographed the competitors who came in fourth for each event.

 

"I think I'm trying to say something grand about competition in general," said Moffatt. "That it's beautiful to try. That to reach a final at an Olympic Games is a great achievement. To even be invited to participate in the Olympic Games is a great achievement."


Ten Thousand Suns—24th Bienniale of Sydney

Black Thursday, February 6th, 1851 (William Strutt)

 

In 1851, after the large-scale displacement of the peoples of the Kulin Nation interrupted Indigenous fire management practices, the Black Thursday bushfire burned five million hectares of Victorian bush, grass, and farmland. William Strutt's memorialization of the inferno captures the existential terror of what was a significant setback for the colony. Terrified faces capture the anxiety of utter destruction that has informed colonial Australia since its inception.


Between this World & the Next, 2023–2024 (Serwah Attafuah)

 

Serwah Attafuah's digital creation unfolds in a near-future Ghana, an Afrofuturistic vista contrasting colonial remnants with utopian hope. Burning slave castles, sinking colonial ships, and formidable female warriors weave a tale both haunting and empowering.  

 

This monumental piece responds to Strutt's Black Thursday, (above).


Aboriginal Camp at Sunset, 1988 (Robert Campbell Jr)

 

In Aboriginal Camp at Sunset, Campbell paints an imagined scene of a group of Aboriginal men gathered the evening before the arrival of the First Fleet on the shores of Botany Bay. The sun, setting on their final hours of true freedom, retains energy, embodying Campbell's unique ability to hold pain and pride in a delicate, defiant balance.

 

Campbell emerged as a singularly talented and incisive artist in the 1980s, his work recalling designs found on the insides of possum-skin cloaks from south-eastern Australia, and the patterned engravings of Aboriginal shields, clubs and boomerangs. His graphic style drew upon the patterning of traditional Ngaku designs to depict the stories of his people and the ongoing impact of colonization.

 


Diablada, 2024 (Freddy Mamani)


The illusion of your history, 2023 (Kirtika Kain)

 

Kain's art—which combines sculpture, experimental printmaking, and painting—invites a new perspective on the history and culture of Dalits, an historically marginalized social caste in Hindu society.

 

The illusion of your history is described by Kain as encapsulating the vastness and dimensionality of Dalit experiences, by presenting a tapestry that resonates with Dalit literary and musical traditions. Epic in scale and materially complex, the work celebrates this significant 3,000-year history, challenging attempts to suppress or erase vital cultural legacies.


Cannot Be Broken and Won't Live Unspoken #2, 2023  (Anne Samat)

 

Samat works with established fiber and weaving techniques from across Southeast Asia to build elaborate woven totems as monuments to family lineages, mythologies, and as mouthpieces for her message of love.

 

Embracing both traditional crafts and aesthetics, she also incorporates everything from combs to toy swords to rake heads. Her sculptures are modeled from the artist's relationships with friends or family and form sites of personal devotion and care.