South sea island holiday crate

Janice Peacock
Meriam Mir people, Erub (Darnley) Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland
1955

South sea island holiday crate
from the series Ailan Crates and Traits in the Straits
2004
plastic bags, sea grass, raffia, string, electrical wire, paint, feathers, shells, found objects, cane
Place made
Brisbane
Medium
plastic bags, sea grass, raffia, string, electrical wire, paint, feathers, shells, found objects, cane
Dimensions
150.0 x 97.0 x 55.5 cm (irreg.)
Credit line
South Australian Government Grant 2005
Accession number
20056S9(a&b)
Signature and date
Not signed. Not dated.
Media category
Sculpture
Collection area
Australian sculptures - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Copyright
© Janice Peacock

  • Janice Peacock is an artist of Torres Strait Islander descent who grew up in Brisbane, far from her mother’s Meriam Mir culture. Although she has worked in diverse media, she is known for her use of disarming humour to highlight aspects of colonisation’s effects on Torres Strait Islander people and culture.


    In 2004, for her visual arts doctorate, Peacock created a series of enchanting sculptural works using supermarket trolleys adorned with cut-up shopping bags, raffia, feathers and found objects. Each evoked a traditional Torres Strait Islander dance headdress while playfully yet pointedly examining the complex legacies of colonisation. By transforming the everyday into the ‘exotic’, she crafted a mock ‘artefact’, one that critiques the commodification of her people’s culture. In South sea island holiday crate, the aeroplane shape satirises the consumer image of an idyllic island getaway. The work also probes the cultural changes caused by the relocation of Pacific Islanders to the Torres Strait in the nineteenth century.


    Barry Patton, Tarnanthi Writer & Researcher

  • [Book] AGSA 500.
  • Janice Peacock 1955

    Crocodile crate

    2004
    plastic bags, seagrass, raffia, rope, string, wire, paint, Queensland emu feathers, bamboo skewers, shells, Erub Island/Torres Strait seedpods, Papua New Guinean wooden spear, linoleum
    Accession no: 20056S7
  • Janice Peacock 1955

    Pearls Hell lugger crate with not so flash bottom

    2004
    rope, plastic bags, raffia, string, paint, feathers, shells, rocks, sand, shellac, wood, fishing devices, buttons, plastic aquarium plants, calico cloth
    Accession no: 20056S8
  • Janice Peacock 1955

    South sea island holiday crate

    2004
    plastic bags, sea grass, raffia, string, electrical wire, paint, feathers, shells, found objects, cane
    Accession no: 20056S9(a&b)