Set in an opulent Victorian-style drawing-room, Object 2015 unfolds over five images. In this series, Cook has used role reversal to shed light on the history of slavery in Australia.

The title refers to the action of degrading someone to the status of an object and we can see this idea played out across the work. The images feature naked non-indigenous women posing as household furnishings typical of the Victorian era including a lamp, table, vase, footstool and ashtray. The other figures in the room are Aboriginal people dressed in beautiful clothing of that period indicating high social status. Each naked woman has a string and label tied to them, like a price tag. These suggest labelling practices associated with slavery, such as the ‘slave badges’ of American slaves or even the ‘king’, ‘brass’ or ‘breastplates’ presented to Aboriginal people in Australia by colonisers as a way of honouring faithful service but also as a means to reinforce the master and subject power dynamic.

These elements combine to create a work that not only speaks to global experiences of slavery amongst Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples but also overlooked slavery practices in Australia. The work encourages us to remember the history of blackbirding in Queensland’s sugar cane industry and the government control and subsequent stealing and loss of wages owed to Aboriginal people—known as Stolen Wages.

Michael Cook
Object 2015
Left to right
Object (Lamp), Object (Table), Object (Vase), Object (Footstool), Object (Ashtray)
inkjet print on paper
edition 8 + 2 AP
Moreton Bay Regional Council Art Collection
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Michael Cook, 2016
Courtesy the artist, Andrew Baker Art Dealer and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne