You Can Go Now

Description

YOU CAN GO NOW examines the extraordinary life and art of contemporary Indigenous artist Richard Bell. A world-renowned political artist, better known on the global art circuit than at home, Richard Bell's art is intended to confront. 'You Can Go Now', the title work in his a recent show is Bell's immigration policy and is directed squarely at his often affronted non-Indigenous audience. We retrace Bell's life from a childhood spent in a fibro shack on the outskirts of town in 1960s Queensland, to headlining Documenta 15 in 2022 and onto the lofty halls of the Tate Modern. Equal parts artist and activist, examining Bell's body of work reveals the parallel story of the struggle for Indigenous rights in Australia and civil rights movements around the world. An integral part of the Australian Indigenous Rights movement from the 80s to today, Bell collaborated with the Black Panther Movement in the US to pursue sovereignty, self-determination and land rights. Bell rejects the very notion of 'Aboriginal Art' claiming the 'desert art' of the past 100 years is a 'white man's construct' defined by the white power structures that profit from it. Suggesting white people can be either paternalistic or racist, his controversial ideas cannot be ignored. Through a combination of personal observational storytelling, powerful archive and contemporary animation of Bell's art and scorching manifesto, the film will be a call to action for Indigenous Australians and a brutal assault to the rest of the art world.

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