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Darren Siwes was born in 1968 and is an Adelaide based photographer. He has a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) from the University of South Australia (1996) as well as a Graduate Diploma of Education (1997) from the same university. In 2002 he was awarded the Anne and Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship and he went on to obtain a Masters of Fine Art from the Institute of London: Chelsea School of Art in London, UK.

He is, as described on the Turner Gallery website as becoming “well known for his nocturnal images of ethereal figures standing in recognisable locations around Adelaide, the UK and now Perth.”

In 2007 Siwes was the recipient of the Redlands Westpac Art Prize. His work is held in many public collections including the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the National Gallery of Australia and the Queensland Art Gallery.

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Darren Siwes is an Australian born artist famous for his ghostly photographic representations of figures staged in settings, which in their own way, challenge the ongoing social and cultural issues which are present in modern Australian society.

Siwes is of Aboriginal and Dutch descent from the Ngalkban People. In 1996 Siwes attained a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the South Australian School of Art, where he graduated with honors.

A practicing artist since his 1996, Siwes went on to attain a Graduate Diploma of Education in 1997 after which he undertook the role of Senior Lecturer in Painting and Drawing at Tauondi Incorporated whilst still perusing his own artistic interests.

Darren Siwes use of photographic media is quite unique and visibly draws from his inspirations that analyze the history of his own cross cultural past. His most noted works use photographic media to recreate imagery associated with Australian colonial times. Specifically he has created most of his work with ghost like gothic figures positioned within the landscape. He cleverly creates this effect though the use of extra long exposure time combined with the use of light and shadows. This is best illustrated through his ‘Just is’ works from 2004.

The same photographic technique is used in Misperceptions, (2001). However rather than drawn upon colonial settings for his work, Siwes has used more modern day backdrops for his photography. The subject, an Aboriginal man dressed in business attire is positioned in a series of locations which suggest the oppression of aboriginal people since colonialism. Perhaps in this work Siwes has used inspirations drawn from other Contemporary Indigenous Australian artists such as Tracey Moffatt and Gordon Bennett, both of whom Siwes hold in high regard.

‘Mum I Want to be Brown’ (2006) is a series of works which seem to follow Siwes’ earlier exhibitions, playing on the desire of white children to be brown in the early years following Australian settlement. This work challenges non-Indigenous views of white Australia, suggesting the fantasy of an alternate past in Australian history.
Siwes has also identified the philosophies of Plato, particularly his notions regarding to class and social justice as outlined in The Republic as having a profound impact on his work. This is evident in his six part series ‘Oz Ominum Rex et Regina’, (2008) in which Siwes mints new coinage which portrays new imagery of Queen Mary and King George as represent by bare shouldered and unrobed Indigenous portraits. This work challenges the commonwealth ownership over Australian territory.
Siwes’ most recent work ‘Dalabon Dalok’ (2011) looks back to his indigenous ancestry. He photographs local Aboriginal people of Dalabon Country in Central Arnhem Land depicting them circumscribed by a square and a circle. The work recreates a famous drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, which expresses the perfection of the human form. The use of Aboriginal people suggests the perfection and equality of the Indigenous Australians.
Siwes uses his medium to pass on a message which illustrates the colonization of Australia. Through his work Siwes describes many concerns which, today, are still present in Australian society.

Works
Misperceptions, 2001
Kaurna Reconciliation Public Artwork, 2002
Just is, 2004
Mum, I Want to be Brown, 2006
Oz Ominum Rex Et Regina, 2008
Dalabon Dalok, 2011

Collections
Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Horsham, VIC http://www.horshamartgallery.com.au/
Artbank, Sydney, NSW http://artbank.gov.au
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, SA http://www.flinders.edu.au/artmuseum
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/SEARCH.cfm
Monash University, Melbourne, VIC http://www.monash.edu.au
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD http://www.qag.qld.gov.au
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au
Reina Sophia’ Madrid, Spain http://www.museoreinasofia.es
Adelaide Festival Center, Adelaide, SA http://www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au
Redlands Collection, NSW
http://www.redlands.nsw.edu.au/

Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2001 Mis/Perceptions, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide SA
2001 Mis/Perceptions, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2002 Mis/Perceptions, garage Regium, Madrid, Spain.
2004 Born Of A Lexicon, Government House, Adelaide Church Gallery, Perth
2004 Just is, 24HR Art, Darwin
2005 Just is, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide SA
2005 Just is, Castan Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2004 Just is, 24HR Art, Darwin
2006 Mum, I want to be Brown, (Selected Works) Project Space CIRCA 06, Puerto Rico
2006 Mum, I want to be Brown, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide SA
2007 Mum, I want to be Brown, Turner Galleries, Perth WA
2007 Mum, I want to be Brown, Magnan Projects, New York
2007 Mum, I want to be Brown, Nellie Castan Gallery Melbourne
2008 Oz Omnium Rex Et Regina, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide SA
2011 Dalabon Dalok

Group Exhibitions
1994 10%, Artzone Gallery, Adelaide
1996 Guddhabungan, Jabal Centre, ANU, Canberra
96 Degrees, South Australian School of Art Graduate Exhibition, Adelaide
1998-99 Three Views of Kaurna Territory Now, Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide
Telstra 15th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin and touring
1999 Living Here Now: Art and Politics, Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2000 Beyond the Pale: Contemporary Indigenous Art, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Chemistry: Art in South Australia 1990-2000, Art Gallery of South Australia
2001 ARCO, International Art Fair, Madrid, Spain (Greenaway Art Gallery stand).
2002 Recent Acquisitions, Adelaide Festival Centre
2002 Biennale of Sydney, Sydney
2002 Kaurna Reconciliation Public Artwork, a collaborative work with 3 artists, Adelaide Festival Centre forecourt, Adelaide
2003 Second Sight, Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane
2003 New view- Indigenous Photographic Perspectives. Monash gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia (touring)
2004 Face-up, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin.
Spirit + Vision, Sammlung Essl Museum, Austria
Adelaide Biennial of Art, Art Gallery of South Australia
Image’s: foto’s en installaties van aboriginal kunstenaars, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht

Recognition
2002 – Received an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art’s Grant for New Work.

2002 – Siwes won the prestigious Gordon & Anne Samstag Scholarship, which enabled him to complete a Master of Fine Arts at the Chelsea School of Art in London.

2007 – Awarded The Redlands Westpac Art Prize for his work titled, The Just and the Unjust

References
A Profile of Symbolic Exchange
Ric Spencer, 2008
Mum, I want to be brown
Catherine Speck, 2006
Uncanny: Darren Siwes’ Just Is series of photographs
Ian McLean, 2004
Made in His Image: the Photographic Art of Darren Siwes,
Christine Nicholls, 2001
Darren Siwes: dialogue with Rembrandt,
Artlink, vol 31 no 2, 2011, Marianne Riphagen,
Darren Siwes: Just Is
The Age, March 6th 2005, Ashley Crawford
Da Vinci Emblem Reshaped
The Age, July 6th 2011, Robert Nelson
Photographer Darren Siwes’s Little Brown Boogey Man,
The Village Voice By Robert Shuster Tuesday, Jan 8 2008
Two Photographs by Darren Siwes
Aboriginal Art & Culture: an American eye

Writers:

Allas, Tess

Date written:

2009

Last updated:

2011