Bindi Cole

Bindi Cole Chocka
Born 1975
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality Australian
Occupation Artist

Bindi Cole Chocka (born 1975) is an Australian contemporary artist with Indigenous heritage who works primarily with photography, video and installation as her mediums.

Born in Melbourne in 1975, she holds a Diploma in Applied Photography from the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, which she completed in 2004.

Her works have been exhibited in the National Gallery of Australia, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Victoria.[1] In 2010, Cole was named one of Melbourne’s Top 100 Most Influential People by The Age.[2]

Early works

Cole's first major work which came to public attention was Heart Strong (2007), an exhibition at the Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne.[3] This work focused on the media's portrayal of Indigenous communities. Cole also photographed elite Indigenous sportsman for the calendar Men in Black. Cole's portrait of boxer Anthony Mundine, Do you like what you see, won the Boscia Galleries Award for Photography at the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards.

As well as photography, Cole's approach to art includes the use of painting, collage, hand-weaving, film, text and installation.[4]

"Not Really Aboriginal" [2008]

Wathaurung Mob, 2008.

Bindi Cole's Not Really Aboriginal is a series of photographs including portraits and group photographs in which the faces of the subjects are blackened with paint. Not Really Aboriginal explores Cole's Indigenous identity and heritage, and the ways in which they are questioned by mainstream society due to Cole's fair complexion.

"Sista Girls" [2010]

Sista Girls is a 2010 photographic series which focuses on the Yimpininni, a community of transgender women in the Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory.

Cole travelled to the Tiwi Islands in far north Northern Territory to shoot the Sista Girls after previously photographing Tiwi Island drag performer Foxxy in 2008. This work with Foxxy was shortlisted for the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. A portrait from the series, Ajay, won the 2009 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards ‘Deadly Award’.

In this work, Cole explores aspects of indigenous identity and culture, and how that is reconciled with transgender identity with the influence of colonization.

Awards

References

  1. ↑ nelliecastangallery.com
  2. ↑ nelliecastangallery.com
  3. ↑ koorieheritagetrust.com
  4. ↑ Jirra Lulla "http://www.nelliecastangallery.com/uploads//Artists/bindi-cole/downloads/BC_Artist_Profile_2011.pdf" Nellie Castan Gallery. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, October 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.