From the series Portrait of a distant land
Ricky Maynard began his Portrait of a distant land series in 2005 in an effort to evidence the complex histories of Aboriginal occupation in Iutruwita (Tasmania). His documentary-style landscape images mark sites of historical and cultural significance to the Ben Lomond and Cape Portland peoples, creating an intimate record of history embedded within the environment.
There is an overwhelming sense of longing and contemplation in these images, as Maynard brings previously silenced histories to life. As a Tasmanian Aboriginal man, he is able to offer an honesty that only an insider can provide. Derived from collective oral histories, these works are very much about people and their Country – what is presented and, most importantly, what is absent.
Maynard created The mission 2005 from historical records that recount the christening of a small Tasmanian Aboriginal boy, following the murder of both his parents in the 1803 Risdon Cove massacre. The work highlights the disparity between written, oral and visual histories, with Maynard challenging the perception of history under a different cultural lens. The Risdon Cove massacre occurred when the rayti (white men – soldiers in this case) murdered men, women and children of the Mumirimina who were out hunting kangaroo. Lieutenant Charles Jeffreys recalled in 1820 that the Mumirimina at Risdon Cove were ‘innocent and well-disposed creatures’ whose ‘tokens of friendship were returned by heavy firing of musquetry from three military detachments which was drawn up for the purpose’.
Maynard’s Death in exile and The healing garden 2005 both document Wybalenna on Flinders Island, one of the most significant historical places in lutruwita (Tasmania). In creating a visual history of his people, Maynard uses each image to reveal distinct, polarising aspects of the human condition: good and bad, life and death. To the Aboriginal people who were removed to Wybalenna in the 19th century, this location was a site of exile, broken promises and death. But as a reflection of their resilience, it is also a location of birth, survival and healing. By presenting two juxtaposing readings of the same landscape, Maynard encourages viewers to consider how we define and tell our histories, along with how we identify with them.
Broken heart 2005 is an intimate image that speaks to the notion of intergenerational trauma. Maynard himself is the lone figure staring out to sea, and his expression reflects the heartbreak Aboriginal people often feel from the awareness of the scars of history that remain in Country. Deeply personal, this hurt is felt for the suffering experienced by previous generations. It took Maynard more than a year of working on the Portrait of a distant land series before he was ready to make this image. In a 2010 essay, Maynard recalled: ‘I’d walked the coast up and down. I don’t live very far from here ... a very special place for all of us, Wybalenna, the big burial ground and place which we hold dear to our hearts. We go back to Country a lot, but I walked all down the coastline for kilometres trying to work out how I could actually portray the way those people would have felt.’