Flight or Fight #3 Silk Road Extended (Friendly Object)
2018-2019
Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial | AWM2019.58.3.
Acrylic on paper Chinese Map of Middle east (printed by Sun Wah press 1941) on linen.
Mounted in North Stradbroke Island Blue Gum. 93 x 142 cm.
Courtesy of the Artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane
Fight or Flight (series)
Australian War Memorial
In 2017 the Australian War Memorial commissioned its first female Aboriginal official war artist, Quandamooka woman Megan Cope, to travel to the Middle East to accompany various Defence units participating in Operation Accordion.
She was initially sent to the United Arab Emirates, before being attached to Australian Defence Force units in the Middle East. There she recorded and interpreted subjects concerning Australia’s contribution to the international effort in the Middle East Region.
Cope’s series of works titled ‘Flight or fight’ was primarily inspired by a ten-hour flight she took over the Middle East.
It was important for Cope that her works held a visual connection to the types of maps she had in her school as a child. She said, “Kids today probably won’t ever know what those maps look like, but I really wanted my maps to have that weight, and to reflect that time of how we learn about the world … I’ve been so challenged by those sorts of maps and that knowledge that was prescribed onto them”.
Thus, it was important for Cope to present her maps in a similar fashion and she did so by incorporating some of her Country. This particular work is mounted to North Stradbroke Island blue gum.
Cope is part social cartographer, curator, writer and artist. Her site specific sculptural installations, video work and paintings lingers within the dualistic spaces of split heritage and contested land, investigate issues relating to identity, the environment and conflicted personal encounters.
Her work explores the myths and methods of colonisation and circumvents hegemonic sovereignty.
EXHIBITION
- Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre, South Australia, 02 Feb - 01 April 2024
- Ipswich Regional Gallery, Queensland, 13 August - 23 October, 2022
- Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Queensland, 3 March - 7 May, 2023
- Australian War Memorial Touring Exhibition, Art in Conflict
- Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria, 26 March - 31 July, 2022
ARTWORK STATEMENTS:
Flight or Fight #1 Old Rivers, Deep Water. (Lake Qadisiya & Lake Assad)
This painting follows the route flown on the Australian KC30 tanker up over the Persian Gulf and then up along the ancient rivers Euphrates and Tigris, the sight of Lake Qadisiya was spectacular and very distinct. The RAAF Pilots also see this as a marker on their daily trips along the river.
Flight or Fight #2 The Near East - Bombs and Oil (Hostile Object)
The Green Keffiyeh is part of the ADF Uniform in the Middle East, In this painting it becomes part of the landscape which includes the communication symbol for Hostile Object/War Craft over the 1941 map of pipelines and oil fields along with bombs which the artist sees as a hostile object.
Flight or Fight #3 Silk Road Extended (Friendly Object)
The Silk Road Extended incorporates a Chinese Map of the Middle East from 1941 with the communication symbol used to identify Friendly Object/War Craft. The Artist was surprised to find a map of the Middle East in a non-western language that also highlighted resources in the region.
Flight or Fight #4 A Golden Arc (Known Object)
The map used in this painting depicts the regions geography with fine and detailed cartography with the communication symbol for Known Object/war Craft – The Centre Square aligns with the Iraqi city of Mosul which many soldiers referred to in conversations, Phase 3 of the Battle of Mosul which Australian RAAF participated in.
Flight or Fight #5 Radar
A Radar detection system uses radio waves to determine the range, angle and velocity of objects, in this instance the artist has painted a radar over an ethnographic map of the Middle East to highlight the social and religious complexity of a region often discussed in the media in binary terms. It is a beautiful map of people and place organised by geography, history and time. This map was first published by The Royal Geographic Society in 1910.
Flight or Fight #6 A Line in the Sand
The inclusion of this map in the series is important to artist as it continues to cast a shadow over the current conflict in the Middle East, many ADF personnel also referred to this map when discussing the geo-political landscape which Australia has been a part of. The artist deliberately printed the map on silk to connect with the Treaty’s secrecy at the time of its initial making.
Flight or Fight #1 Old Rivers, Deep Water. (Lake Qadisiya & Lake Assad) 2018- 2019 Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial | AWM2019.58.1. Used Engine oil, ink and acrylic on paper and linen mounted in North Stradbroke Island blue gum; 121 x 103 cm.
Flight or Fight #2 The Near East – Bombs and Oil (Hostile Object) 2018-2019 Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial | AWM2019.58.2. Gifted Keffiyeh/Shemagh, paper map of The Near East (published by the Serial Map Service 1941) and acrylic on linen mounted on North Stradbroke Island blue gum. 157 x 153 cm
Flight or Fight #3 Silk Road Extended (Friendly Object) 2018-2019 Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial | AWM2019.58.3. Acrylic on paper Chinese Map of Middle east (printed by Sun Wah press 1941) on linen mounted in North Stradbroke Island Blue Gum 93 x 142 cm
Flight or Fight #4 A Golden Arc (Known Object) 2018-2019 Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial | AWM2019.58.4. Acrylic on paper over General World Series map (of the Middle East 1933) on linen mounted in North Stradbroke Island Cypress Pine 110 x 165 cm
Flight or Fight #5 Radar 2018-2019 Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial | AWM2019.58.5. Acrylic on paper Ethnographic Map of Eastern Turkey in Asia, Syria and Western Persia on Linen mounted in North Stradbroke Island Cypress Pine 171 x 165 cm
Flight or Fight #6 A Line in the Sand 2018-2019 Commissioned by the Australian War Memorial | AWM2019.58.6. Sykes and Picot Map over Eastern Turkey in Asia, Syria and Western Persia on Printed Silk 55 x 55.7 cm
Flight or Fight at Art in Conflict, Shepparton Art Museum, 2022
