Practicing since the 1980s and now basing herself between New York and Sydney, Indigenous filmmaker and photographer Tracey Moffatt has coined a particular artistic language and distinct style of photographic cinema to impart concepts of identity and society in a narrative format.
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
Websites
- Brooklyn Museum 2008, Tracey Moffatt, viewed 15 September 2011, <www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfUZ4-n3Roo >.
A three minute and six second interview with Moffatt that came out of her involvement in the Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection exhibition, Brooklyn Museum October 31 2008 – April 15 2009. Moffatt defines feminist art and talks about making feminist statements. She refers to personal experiences of assertion in the art world and explains her art piece, Lip, featured in the exhibition. This resource would appeal to visual and audio learners.
- James, B 2001, Australian Artist Tracey Moffatt, viewed 19 September 2011,
In the transcript, Moffatt describes her art practice with photography and prints including set designs, manifesting ideas, and technicalities of equipment. She describes the making of and responses to the pieces Artist (a video montage), Invocations (a photographic series), Scarred for Life (a photographic series) and comments on Telling Tales, a Monash University exhibition including some of Moffatt’s work (at the time of this interview, she was unsure which work would be included). The format and style of the interview, professional in its technical talk and informal by Moffatt’s personal experiences, provides a unique resource for school students studying art as well as a more general audience as it was originally recorded for a radio program for the general public.
- Nelson, R 2004, Tracey Moffatt, Fairfax Digital, viewed 19 September 2011, <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/13/1073877810745.html>.
A review of an array of Moffatt’s work coinciding with the artist’s exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, in 2009. It refers to Night Cries as the artistic masterpiece and explains Moffatt’s narrative photographic series and films and their use of props in a comical and sometimes tragic vein. There are two images; a self-portrait and a photo from Something More, 1989 series. The review is in the Arts section of The Age and is suitable for an audience interested in exhibitions and a brief history of Moffatt's art works.
- Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Tracey Moffatt Artist Profile, viewed 19 September 2011,
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery is in Sydney. This website has a comprehensive list of Moffatt’s solo and group exhibitions, awards, film and video collections and distributors, collections, and bibliography spanning 1984 to 2011. There are links to 16 photographic series and 5 DVDs. The links go to exhibition images. The DVD links provide an image of the installation at the gallery and still shots from the film. There are also links to the gallery’s Press Releases for the exhibitions from these pages. This website would be a helpful tool for tertiary art students.
DVD
- Nice Coloured Girls 1987, DVD, Tracey Moffatt, Sydney.
A 17 minute film by Moffatt. Set one night in Kings Cross, Sydney, the film emphasises and explains (mostly with subtitles) the intelligent cunningness of three Indigenous women in achieving their desires in a ‘night out’ situation. It also explores the relationship between Indigenous women and white men since colonisation. There is little dialogue, and footage of Kings Cross nightlife. There are inserts of clips such as a painting and a beach scene and a profile shot of an Aboriginal woman. The film would be useful for an audience interested in Moffatt’s art, and video art more generally.
Located at RMIT Library in Audio Visual. Call number AV 305.488991 N588. There are video carousels at the Swanston Street branch of this library.
PRINTED SOURCES
Art Catalogue
- Art Australia (ed) 2008, Current: contemporary art from Australia and New Zealand, Dott Publishing, Sydney.
This catalogue reflects the concept of contemporary in art in Australasia . Moffatt features on pages 208-212; this section includes stills from her works First Jobs (Corner Store) and Fourth. Information about her place and year of birth as well as her representative is provided. There is also a quote from the Artist – “Just shut the hell up and do it, is my motto – words are cheap”. This art catalogue would be useful as a starting point for researching the artist.
Located at the State Library of Victoria in Arts - large books. Call number AOF 709.05 C93A. Free access, though items at the State Library of Victoria cannot be loaned.
Monograph
- Summerhayes, C 2007, The Moving Images of Tracey Moffatt, Charta, Italy.
This art publication examines Tracey Moffatt’s work in periods, including the famous collaborations with Gary Hillberg. The periods are to 1988, to 1992, to 1996 (part 1), to 1996 (part 2), to 1999, to 2003, to 2008. Most sections are set out with a title and information, followed by stills from the piece, followed by a storyboard. There is an Appendix including an Artist Profile. There is a bibliography and a photo album. This monologue would be useful as a starting point for researching the artist.
Located at the State Library of Victoria in Arts - large books. Call number AOF 709.2 m72s. Free access, though items at the State Library of Victoria cannot be loaned.
Book Chapter
- Columpar, C 2009, ‘At the limits of visual representation: Tracey Moffatt’s still and moving images’, in C Columpar & S Mayer (ed.) There she goes: feminist filmmaking and beyond, Wayne State University Press,
This chapter examines how the theories of French film critic Metz New York City
Located at the State Library of Victoria in Arts. Call number AO 791.43082 T34C. Free access, though items at the State Library of Victoria cannot be loaned.
Journal Articles
- Newton, G 2006, ‘Michael Riley: Kristina 1986’, Artonview, no. 46, p. 20, viewed 20 September 2011, Wilson Web database.
A short article that looks at how Moffatt’s art work challenges and emphasises popular portrayals of Indigenous identity. It explores the background of the NAIDOC ’86 Exhibition of Aboriginal and Islander Photographers, which was promoted by an image titled Kristina. The article is informative about the exhibition, and makes some interesting reflections about the art in the project more generally. It would be of use to an audience concerned with these things.
- Tang, J 2006, ‘Flights of Fancy’, Afterimage, vol. 33, no. 6, p. 38, viewed 20 September 2011, ProQuest database.
This two page article reviews and compares a number of Moffatt’s works at the time of a showing at a gallery exhibiting video and photographic works that experimented with post production, narrative construction and representation. The two focal pieces are Love (a video montage) and Adventures (panels of photos). The article explores how Moffatt’s “almost iconic images allude to film stills and movie posters” as a result of Moffatt’s process (casting, set design, digital alterations of photos) and direction. It examines the intertextuality and the political and racial content present in the artist’s work, as well as views from the artist herself to explain that contemporary video artists use a process and must respond to innovation to create their powerful images. For its focus on artistic practice, this resource would benefit tertiary and secondary art students learning about video art and this artist’s practice.
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