“This interchange between continents, between nature and culture, is like a page of history to re-read and to share. This work simply inspires wonder.” Valérie Marin La Meslée, Le Point

The exhibition untitled (original territory) by Australian Aboriginal artist Jonathan Jones at the Palais de Tokyo as part of the Six Continents or More season, is a must.

This incredibly delicate exhibition examines complex history and addresses powerful issues such as the notion of restitution, collective healing processes and the colonisation of Aboriginal knowledge.

Its source of inspiration is the French expedition to the southern lands led by Captain Nicolas Baudin in 1800- 1803. Commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, this was one of the most extensive scientific expeditions ever undertaken in Australia, taking to France a vast collection of artifacts, flora and fauna.

The exhibition takes on multiple forms. It features 300 handmade embroideries by refugee and migrant collectives living in Sydney. These embroideries reproduce the plant specimens collected during the Baudin expedition and preserved at the National Herbarium in Paris. The space is also composed of sculptures inspired by Napoleon’s imperial crown wreaths but made with Australian materials such as black swan feathers, possum skins or emu eggs. These creations are accompanied by a video telling the story of the project and its context as well as a soundscape, the point of departure for which was a corroboree, as transcribed during the French expedition in Sydney which is the first European partition of an Aboriginal ceremony.

These elements come together to create the unique space that is the exhibition untitled (original territory). On display until 20 February 2022, we encourage you to go there and be transported between the cultures, ideas and artistic imaginations that constitute this new artistic season at the Palais de Tokyo.

To know more about the exhibition : Australia now France 2021–22 (celebrateaustralianow.com)

Curators: Daria de Beauvais, Alexie Glass-Kantor, Michelle Newton, assisted by Lisa Colin.

Exhibition produced in partnership with Artspace (Sydney) and as part of the Australia now France program.