Fiona Foley

{{Short description|Australian artist (born 1964)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2011}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Fiona Foley | honorific_suffix = | image = Fiona Foley (born 1964) in the video 'Global Feminisms'.png | image_size = | alt = | caption = At the Brooklyn Museum in 2007 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1964}} | birth_place = Maryborough, Queensland, Australia | education = | alma_mater = Griffith University (2017, Ph.D.) | known_for = | notable_works = | style = Contemporary Indigenous Australian art | movement = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = | family = | awards =  | website =  }} '''Fiona Foley''' (born 1964) is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist from K'gari (Fraser Island), Queensland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foley, Fiona|date=2011-10-31|publisher=Oxford University Press|series=Benezit Dictionary of Artists |doi = 10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00065635 |url-access =subscription|url= https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/display/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00065635 }}</ref> Foley is known for her activity as an academic, cultural and community leader and for co-founding the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Fiona Foley: Solitaire|last=Genocchio|first=Benjamin|date=2001|publisher=Piper Press|isbn=0958798494|pages=32, 83, 188, 43, 60, 57, 62, 65, 61, 90, 16, 75, 34, 39, 73, 83, 35, 76|oclc=494240761}}</ref>

Her practice encompasses many media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, textiles and installation,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Fiona Foley - forbidden ; [First publ. on the occasion of the exhibition Fiona Forley: Forbidden Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 12 November 2009 – 31 January 2010 ; The University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 19 February - 2 May 2010]|last=Foley, Fiona|date=2009|publisher=Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney|isbn=9781921034350|pages=135–137, 141, 61|oclc=935272016}}</ref> and her work addresses contemporary political issues facing Indigenous Australians. It is held in the public collections of many Australian state, national, and university collections, including the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art as well as the British Museum in London.<ref name=":1" /> Foley's work has toured internationally and featured in several major exhibitions, including ''Global Feminisms'' at the Brooklyn Museum, and ''World of Dreamings: Traditional and modern art of Australia'' at Russia's Hermitage Museum, the National Gallery of Australia, and Artspace.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nga.gov.au/dreaming/index.cfm?Refrnc=Ch8|title=World of Dreamings: Traditional and modern art of Australia|website=National Gallery of Australia|date=2000|others=Exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg and the National Gallery of Australia, 2000, featuring the work of Fiona Foley.|first=Avril|last=Quaill|access-date=21 September 2021|archive-date=21 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921041411/https://nga.gov.au/dreaming/index.cfm?Refrnc=Ch8|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Biography == Fiona Foley was born in Maryborough in 1964 and raised in nearby Hervey Bay and (briefly) Mount Isa.<ref name=":0" /> Foley attended high school in Sydney with her siblings, and then attained a Certificate of Arts from East Sydney Technical College in 1983.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> She was one of the first Indigenous students to attend the Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney University completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1986.<ref name=":0" /> The following year she completed a Diploma of Education at Sydney University.<ref name=":1" />

Foley's mother, Shirley Foley, was born in Urangan and was a member of the Wondunna clan of the Badtjala people, the traditional owners of K'gari, sometimes formerly known as Thoorgine. In 1988, Shirley Foley established the Thoorgine Educational and Culture Centre on the island. She spent twenty years researching and recording Badjala language and culture, culminating in the publication of a Badtjala/English dictionary. Her mother's cultural pride and high regard for education have influenced Foley throughout her career.<ref name=":0" /> Her father was Barry Foley (1938-2017), who was born in Sydney, one of nine children in a Catholic family. His father emigrated to Australia from Ireland before World War I.

Since 1985, Foley has had significant engagement with Indigenous communities in central Australia, most notably Maningrida and Ramingining in Arnhem Land.<ref name=":0" /> Foley and her mother visited Maningrida in 1992, facilitating a cultural exchange between locals and Badtjala people. Before this, Foley lived and worked in Ramingining for several months.<ref name=":0" /> These trips greatly informed her practice, provided further insights into Aboriginal culture, and inspired her to be a cultural leader. In 1995, Foley permanently moved back to Hervey Bay to be with family and take part in Native Title negotiations regarding a portion of Fraser Island.<ref name=":0" /> As of 2014, this claim has been successful.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4314/fiona-foley-woman-on-the-dunes/|title=Fiona Foley: Woman on the Dunes|website=Artlink Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref>

In 2017 Foley completed a Doctorate of Philosophy. Her research focused on the ''Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897''.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Biting the Clouds: The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897|url=https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/371948|publisher=Griffith University|date=2017|degree=Griffith thesis|language=en|first=Fiona Lee|last=Foley}}</ref> A number of her artworks have referenced this act and its effect on the Badtjala people.<ref name=":1" /> Her thesis was subsequently published by University of Queensland Press as ''Biting the Clouds'',<ref>{{Cite book|last=Foley|first=Fiona|title=Biting the Clouds: A Badtjala perspective on The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897|date=2020|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=9780702262982|location=St Lucia, Queensland|oclc=1201290709}}</ref> which won the 2021 Queensland Premier's Award for a work of State Significance.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-09|title=Winners announced for 2021 Queensland Literary Awards|url=https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/93179|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909191704/https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/93179|archive-date=2021-09-09|access-date=2021-09-09|website=Queensland Government: Ministerial Media Statements|language=en}}</ref>

== Career and artistic practice == Community engagement is pertinent to Foley's art practice.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Neale, Margo., Kleinert, Sylvia., Bancroft, Robyne.|isbn=0195506499|location=Melbourne|pages=301, 188, 267, 271–274, 485, 488, 486, 469|oclc=59522132}}</ref> She contributed to the emergence of urban Australian Indigenous Art through her participation in the seminal Koori '84 group exhibition at Artspace.<ref name=":2" /> Following this, she was involved in the foundation of several artist co-operatives and initiatives. These include the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative and artist exchanges and collaborative workshops between Badtjala people and artists from Maningrida & Ramingining.<ref name=":2" /> More recently Foley’s involvement in the arts community has extended to curatorial roles. In 1994 she co-curated ''Tyerabarrbowaryaou II - I shall never become a white man'' for the Havana Biennial alongside Djon Mundine.<ref name=":2" /> This was the first international exhibition to be curated by Indigenous Australians.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=The eye of the storm : eight contemporary indigenous Australian artists.|last=National Gallery of Australia. National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi, India)|date=1997 |isbn=0642130620|pages=65|publisher=National Gallery of Australia |oclc=38413821}}</ref>

Political issues are central to Foley’s practice.<ref name=":0" /> Her works in public art and installation aim to examine and redress previously disregarded histories of colonisation in Australia.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Undisclosed : 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial|last=National Indigenous Art Triennial (2nd : 2012 : National Gallery of Australia)|year=2012|isbn=9780642334213|pages=57, 65, 34|publisher=National Gallery of Australia |oclc=781135341}}</ref> One such example is ''Edge of the Trees'', a 1995 collaboration with Janet Laurence - the first major public artwork by both an Indigenous and a non-Indigenous Australian artist. In 1995 it was awarded the Lloyd Rees Award for Urban Design. The work utilises both Western and Indigenous iconographies to evidence historical conflict - both on its site (the Museum of Sydney, formerly Australia’s first Government House) and across Australia.<ref name=":0" /> Pukumani or tutini (funerary) poles contrast Sydney’s urban landscape and memorialise the violence that shaped early interactions with settlers on the city’s shore.<ref name=":2" />

Foley’s ''Land Deal'' (1995) and ''Lie of the Land'' (1997) serve as evidence and a reminder of John Batman’s now-invalidated treaty for 600,000 acres of Wurundjeri land (where Melbourne currently stands), and its basis on false premises.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Similarly, ''Witnessing to Silence'' (2004) remembers all known massacres of Indigenous people within Queensland, listing 94 such sites. The corpses on these sites were hidden either by burning or submerging in bodies of water. Foley engaged in some chicanery to ensure the work’s installation, telling its commissioners (Brisbane Magistrate’s Court) that the work was about sites of natural phenomena - fire and flood. The work’s true meaning was only unveiled once installed.<ref name=":1" />

Her work entitled ''Black Opium,'' commissioned by the State Library of Queensland in 2006, explores themes of history, memory and politics through sculptural installations and photographs,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Black Opium by Fiona Foley |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/plan-my-visit/spaces-visit/black-opium-fiona-foley |access-date=18 May 2022 |website=State Library of Queensland}}</ref> and references the ''Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897'' as well as the impacts of the British colonial opium trade on both Chinese and Indigenous communities.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Black opium|last=Foley|first=Fiona|date=2010|publisher=[State Library of Queensland] |isbn=9780975803059| pages=15|oclc=747383562}}</ref> By exhibiting these works within the context of Western cultural institutions, Foley aims to evidence and embed oppressive Australian histories where they have previously been excluded.<ref name=":0" />

At other times Foley’s work strikes a more playful or satirical political tone.<ref name=":2" /> Her appropriation of ethnographic imagery and "Aboriginalia" (kitsch objects depicting Indigenous Australians in a culturally insensitive manner) serve to critique these claims to the representation of Indigenous people.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Warren|first=Jacob G.|date=2017-01-02|title='Pay Attention Mother Fuckers': Outlining a Strategy of Wordplay in Australian Indigenous Text-based Art|journal=Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art|volume=17|issue=1|pages=58|doi=10.1080/14434318.2017.1330677|issn=1443-4318}}</ref> Positioning herself as both subject and author, Foley rectifies power imbalances and reconstructs an oppressive history. Works such as 1994’s ''Native Blood'' and ''Badtjala Woman'' demonstrate an aim to undermine and challenge the historical and "scientific" sanctity of such images, whilst highlighting the West’s idealisation, sexualisation and exploitation of Indigenous culture as an exotic aesthetic.<ref name=":2" />

Connection to place features heavily throughout Foley’s practice.<ref name=":0" /> Themes of nature - sand and sea -  pervade pictorial works and foreground the significance of Foley’s ancestral ties to Thoorgine (Fraser Island).<ref name=":2" /> ''The Legends of Moonie Jarl'', a book written and illustrated in the 1960s by Foley’s aunt and uncle, relates numerous Badtjala creation stories that describe the animals, vegetation and weather patterns of the island. This text, her mother and her stints in Arnhem Land are considered major reference points for Foley’s 2D practice. ''Men's Business'' (1987–89), ''Catching Tuna'' (1992) and ''Salt Water Islands'' (1992) depict Foley’s experience during her time visiting the remote communities of Maningrida and Ramingining in the Northern Territory. They demonstrate the minimalism, flatness and "symbolic abstraction" that is characteristic of Foley’s pastels and paintings. Typically making use of an aerial perspective, these works privilege meditative spatiality over didactic naturalistic representations.<ref name=":0" /> Significantly, this counters historical ethnographic and spectatorial depictions of Indigenous culture by settlers.<ref name=":1" /> Contrarily, Foley’s work impresses a sense of myth, memory and dream - both personal and collective. Politically, this practice is an affirmative reclamation of symbols, narratives, cultures and histories that have previously been appropriated or erased.

In 2013 Fiona Foley was interviewed in a digital story and oral history for the State Library of Queensland's [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/research-collections/art-and-design/james-c-sourris-am-collection James C Sourris AM Collection]. In the interview Foley talks to writer, Louise Martin-Chew about her life as an artist and the influences on her practice including her sense of justice, desire to tell the hidden histories, her family memories and her love for Aboriginal culture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fiona Foley digital story, educational interview and oral history. |url=http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/1oppkg1/slq_alma21276823980002061 |website=State Library of Queensland OneSearch Catalgoue}}</ref>

In 2020 Foley was awarded State Library of Queensland's inaugural [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/get-involved/fellowships-awards-and-residencies/queensland-memory-awards/monica-clare-research?check_logged_in=1 Monica Clare Research Fellowship] for her project ''Bogimbah Creek Mission: The First Aboriginal Experiment'' and ''The Magna Carta Tree.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past Monica Clare Research Fellows |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/past-monica-clare-fellows |access-date=16 May 2022 |website=State Library of Queensland}}</ref> From her research fellowship, Foley produce her publication ''Bogimbah Creek Mission: the First Aboriginal Experiment''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foley |first=Fiona |url=http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/1oppkg1/slq_alma21299544520002061 |title=Bogimbah Creek Mission : The first Aboriginal experiment |publisher=Pirri Productions |year=2021 |isbn=9780646848488 |location=Booral, Queensland |language=English}}</ref> and a ''[https://vimeo.com/648849448 Research Reveals]'' lecture on the subject.

Foley is represented by Niagara Galleries, Melbourne.<ref name=":1" />

== Selected works == *Annihilation of the Blacks, 1986<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://collectionsearch.nma.gov.au/object/29854|title=Annihilation of the Blacks|website=National Museum of Australia|language=en|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> *Eliza’s rat traps, 1991<ref name=":4" /> *Lost Badtjalas, Severed Hair, 1991<ref name=":4" /> *Native Blood, 1994<ref name=":1" /> *Badtjala Woman, 1994<ref name=":1" /> *Land Deal, 1995<ref name=":4" /> *Edge of the Trees (with Janet Laurence), 1995<ref name=":4" /> *HHH, 2004<ref name=":1" /> *Witnessing to Silence, 2004<ref name=":1" /> *Nulla 4 eva, 2009<ref name=":1" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == *{{Cite web|url=http://www.andrew-baker.com/ff.html|title=A Quintessential Act |website=Andrew Baker Art Dealer}} Foley's full CV *Foley, Fiona (1999). "A Blast From the Past." ''Performing Hybridity''. May Joseph, et al., eds. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. *{{Cite interview | title=Living the red desert: Fiona Foley interview|first= Fiona| last=Foley| author-link= Fiona Foley| interviewer-first= Jacqueline| interviewer-last= Millner |journal= RealTime | date=February-March 2000| issue=35 | publisher=Open City Inc. | url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-733140625| via=National Library of Australia}} *Martin-Chew, Louise (2006). "Poignancy in Somber Truths." ''The Australian''. 27 October. *Morrell, Timothy (2009). ''[https://artcollector.net.au/fiona-foley-collectors-dossier/ Collector's Dossier: Fiona Foley]'', Australian Art Collector, issue 50 Oct–Dec 2009. *{{cite journal |author=Mundine, Djon |authorlink=Djon Mundine|date=Jun 2015 |title=Fiona Foley : woman on the dunes |journal=Artlink |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=26–30 |url=https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4314/fiona-foley-woman-on-the-dunes/ }} *Smith, Terry (2001). "Public Art between Cultures: The "Aboriginal Memorial," Aboriginality, and Nationality in Australia." ''Critical Inquiry''. 27:4. *Fiona, Foley (2020) [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/dr-fiona-foley-monica-clare-research-fellow Dr Fiona Foley - Monica Clare Research Fellow], John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland. *Foley, Fiona (2021) [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/bogimbah-creek-mission-first-aboriginal-experiment-new-publication-dr-fiona-foley Bogimbah Creek Mission: The First Aboriginal Experiment. New publication by Dr Fiona Foley], John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland. *Tyquiengco, Marina. “Black Velvet: Aboriginal Womanhood in the Art of Fiona Foley.” ''Feminist Studies'' 45, no. 2/3 (May 1, 2019): 467–500. doi:10.15767/feministstudies.45.2-3.0467.

== External links == *{{official|http://fionafoley.com.au/}} *[http://www.uap.com.au Urban Art Projects] *[https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/exhibitions/511-forbidden-fiona-foley/ MCA Sydney - Fiona Foley's Forbidden] *[http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/1oppkg1/slq_alma21276823980002061 Fiona Foley digital story, educational interview and oral history]. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, 19 June 2013. 7min, 29min and 45 min version available to view online. *[https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/past-monica-clare-fellows Past Monica Clare Research Fellows]. State Library of Queensland.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Fiona}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Australian contemporary artists Category:Australian Aboriginal artists Category:People from Hervey Bay Category:Australian artists Category:Women's Art Register artists