Catalogues - Cloud & Empire

Cloud & Empire

Michael Riley

Published: Australian Centre for Photography, 2000

Cloud is a new body of work investigating Michael Riley's enforced Christian upbringing and the wider impact of such upbringing on Indigenous communities throughout Australia. The work addresses processes of assimilation: the removing of Indigenous peoples onto reserves to 'die out' and the imposed conversion to Christianity.

Recognising both negative and positive outcomes of his upbringing, Cloud seeks to make sense of a history that defies simple resolution.

Empire is the acclaimed and evocative 1997 film directed by Riley for The Festival of the Dreaming, with music by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

IMAGE © Michael Riley Untitled 2000