One of Australia’s most renowned artists, Queensland-born, Sydney-based Tracey Moffatt represented Australia at the 2017 Venice Biennale with the exhibition ‘MY HORIZON’ in the national pavilion. Vigil 2017 was presented in the exhibition alongside another video work, The white ghosts sailed in 2017, and two bodies of photographic works. The videos grapple with different moments in Australia’s history when people arrived on the continent’s shore by boat.
Vigil splices footage of refugees on a sinking boat with clips taken from Hollywood films of famous actors looking out of windows with horror.¹ The news reportage — covering a 2010 maritime disaster wherein a boat carrying people seeking asylum ran aground on Christmas Island and subsequently sank, claiming 50 lives — is altered with a filter so that the faces of the asylum seekers are unrecognisable. Moffatt did this not only to provide anonymity to the individuals but also so that viewers were not distracted by the race of those depicted. While the artwork responds to Australia’s pernicious policies against people arriving by boat to seek asylum, the artist also aims to speak more broadly to the global refugee crisis.  

Vigil continues the artist’s ongoing series of montage videos. The chosen clips in Vigil speak to how privilege and race intersect in contemporary society. Against the footage of a real-life crisis, the glossy film clips lay bare that while members of society may be perturbed to witness harrowing stories of refugees fleeing to safety, this rarely translates into political action. 

Referencing a highly emotive contemporary event in Australia’s history in Vigil, Moffatt asks how art can do justice to history and compel concrete change in the present. 

Endnotes

1. Australia Council for the Arts, ‘Australian Pavilion to Present Tracey Moffatt’s Solo Exhibition My Horizon’ [media release], 10 May 2017, viewed 30 July 2024.