This Arts Month, Pacific Place is proud to host its second offsite project from Art Basel’s Encounters series. The work, titled Doan, is the creation of First Nations Australian artist Daniel Boyd — it is a site-specific installation comprising a large-scale moving image, a mirrored stage floor and a semi-reflective window treatment. 'Doan' literally means ‘darkness’ in the Yugambeh language of the First Nations people of south-eastern Queensland, and the three synergistic elements play on the movement of light and shadow throughout the day, as well as fracturing the images of the people reflected.
Boyd has used this kind of fracturing in previous works to explore identity, memory, perception and history, themes that have informed not just his career but his life as a First Nations Australian. ‘The inspiration to become an artist really wasn’t something that I sought out,’ says Boyd. ‘It was part of who I am, and I think, this form of expression and exchange, that it belongs to the longest continuous culture on earth.’
The Style Sheet spoke with Boyd about his artistic practice and Doan. Watch the full interview below, and we look forward to welcoming you to experience his work in person.
Doan will be exhibited at Park Court until 7 April 2024 as part of Swire Properties Arts Month. See here for more detail.