Always Painting, Always Sculpting

Carnarvon Gorge, a nearly 20-mile canyon situated in Central Queensland, Australia, is a space uniquely defined by its rock art paintings and by the sculpting of its landscapes, the cliffs forged by the coursing of creeks and springs. The place carries the ongoing histories of communities including the Garingbal and Bidjara people of Central Queensland who have maintained their stories in the region for at least 20,000 years, one descendant of which—Brisbane-based Dale Harding—has made it his mission not only to sustain these narratives but to articulate their futures through his own painting and sculpting.

At the two-city Documenta 14 in 2017, Harding presented different bodies of work that opened up (2017), comprised of black silicone replicas of ceremonial spears, boomerangs, throwing sticks, (hunting clubs) and other tools re-created with permission from his communities’ elders.