Yhonnie Scarce is a Kokatha and Nukunu artist widely recognised for making blown glass in black. Often using the form of yams to represent the bodies of Aboriginal peoples, she has earned critical acclaim for her research in nuclear testing and its ongoing impact on First Nations communities. As a fan of her work, I was excited to hear that the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is hosting a retrospective of her oeuvre, The Light of Day.
It will witness the evolution of Scarce’s work, which often unpacks harrowing stories of nuclear colonialism with astonishing beauty.
DIEGO RAMIREZ
The Light of Day gathers over 30 of your artworks, with nuclear colonisation being a prominent theme, among other research areas. Could you please tell me about the glass nuclear cloud works that AGWA sourced for your retrospective?
YHONNIE SCARCE
At the moment there are six nuclear clouds, and AGWA will show three of them., 2015, the first cloud I ever created for the Art Galley of South Australia will be there, as well as , 2017, created for , and , 2000, made during the pandemic for TarraWarra Museum of Art. They’re all large clouds. The works deal with nuclear disaster, genocide, family history, and the colonisation of Aboriginal people, including their removal and incarceration, as well as the scientific testing that was inflicted upon them.
