Deathscapes

Ryan Presley: Prosperity 2018

Deathscapes

This book presents selected works from Presley’s acclaimed Blood Money series, which features the heroes and warriors of Indigenous history as figureheads on Australian banknotes, alongside documentation of the recent Prosperity exhibition at the IMA. The book includes a chapter by Ryan Presley on the history of the Australian colony’s first currency, the holey dollar, alongside contributions by Tina Baum, Daniel Browning, and Suvendrini Perera that explore different manifestations of currency as a tool of the colonial project.

In her contribution, ‘Counter(feit) Sovereignties’,  Suvendrini Perera discusses Ryan Presley’s intricately designed Blood Money Dollars as artefects of counter-sovereignty, akin to the Aboriginal passports issued by Uncle Ray Jackson and Uncle Robbie Thorpe.

A man is depicted riding a buffalo in the ocean, preparing to spear sharks.

Ryan Presley, Terror Island Wish You Were Here


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This research was primarily supported under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme from 2016-2020.

Partial funding was received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Partnership Development Grants scheme in 2016-2017.

The views expressed herein are those of the named authors and are not necessarily those of the funders.

All content © artists and deathscapes.org, 2017.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are respectfully advised that this website contains images of and references to deceased persons.

All viewers are respectfully advised that the site contains images of and references to the deaths in custody of Indigenous peoples, Black people and refugees that may cause distress.

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