Picturesque Cherbourg no.4 (from 'Picturesque Cherbourg' series within the 'Spirit landscapes' series) 2013

Tracey Moffatt often uses landscape imagery to address highly personal experiences. At first glance, nothing seems out of the ordinary in the bright snapshots of suburban Queensland streets that make up her ‘Picturesque Cherbourg’ series. However, a closer look reveals rips in the photographs, which — even after being pasted back together — remain fractured, even ruptured. 

The town of Cherbourg was established as a mission in 1901 and later became a government settlement, where many Indigenous peoples were sent to live after being forcibly removed from Country under Queensland’s Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897. Describing the trauma her family members experienced at Cherbourg, Moffatt has said, ‘The old people don’t want to talk about it, like war veterans’. Contextualising these picture-perfect images with violent tears, Moffatt reminds us of the psychological burden of historical realities that are often hidden behind pleasant exteriors.