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Julie Gough
Tense Past
Olivia Koh
‘A collection is as much about elimination of
materials as inclusion; a collection tells as
much about a maker as itself, therefore it is as
contrived as any documented history with one
maker.’ – Julie Gough, 1996‘Tense Past’ features works by artist Julie
Gough from the last 25 years, including
significant colonial and Indigenous artefacts
from major collections across Australia. It
is the first major survey of Gough’s practice
and an insightful introduction for a first
time viewer, as well as those familiar with
her practice. Spread over a large wing of the
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG)
it is both exhibition and museuological
endeavour, with colonial representations of
Tasmania’s Aboriginal people including the
artist’s maternal ancestors.Arranging these items alongside her sculpture,
sound and video pieces, Gough’s sensitive
treatment of the materiality of the Museum,
and what is housed within is exceptionally
comprehensive. With the collaboration of curator Mary Knight, ‘Tense Past’ dismantles
institutional authority by parallel; through its creation of a collection of alternate history. The
show’s title is congruent with the artist’s strategy of pairing and re-contextualising works so
that there is never closure, only questions. It is also emblematic of a desire to examine personal
chronology in parallel to moments in history: everything is under the microscope, including
western conceits of time.A wall text by Gough explains the first main gallery is dedicated to the Missing:
‘...between the 1790s and 1830s most Tasmanian Aboriginal people, perhaps 5,000, mysteriously
disappeared. That is the way the historical reports and the school books present our story of being
reduced to a few families, mostly living in exile in the Bass Strait islands.’Gough displays objects that signify the prevailing attitudes towards Aboriginal people in
Tasmania of that era, making tangible the violent acts and loss that they engendered, including a
Huon Pine table, watercolours of “A Native Hut” and the cartoonish profile of an Aboriginal youth,
a Mahogony clock previously owned by a Quaker settler family strikes the hour. Particularly,
writing on paper is a pivotal colonial bureaucratic tool and Gough returns again and again to
archival writing that documents English violence against Aboriginal people.