r e a

r e a is a visual artist of Gamilaraay and Wailwan peoples of Coonabarabran, New South Wales, and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally since 1992. Much of r e a ‘s practice explores the construction of Indigenous identities through archival photography and video. r e a often creates her own source material in the studio, and uses digital technologies to manipulate and layer the photographs with text and colour.

The power relations that are inscribed in the ‘blak’ female body are recurring subjects in r e a ‘s work. Definitions of Difference I – V1 (1994), EYE/I’MMABLAKPIECE (1996) and REA: CODE (1998) variously examine the representation of the blak female body, and reinvent the passive object of colonial history into an intelligent and articulate speaking subject.

POP (1998) and Don’t Shoot Till You See the Whites of Their Eyes . . . (1999) formed part of r e a ‘s Masters research at the Australian National University into Aboriginal kitsch iconography throughout Australian history. The target signs that are evident in POP speak to the ways in which Aboriginal people have been constructed as targets for violence, fear and discrimination. r e a locates herself at the centre of the target, and employs a pop aesthetic to draw the viewer into her critical investigation of history and representation.