Last Laughs

Label

Three young Australian women—the artist’s sister and close friends—are dressed to go out. The black doll wearing the colors of the Australian Aboriginal flag connects them to their indigeneity and also to childhood, in contrast with the symbols of emerging adulthood: tight clothes, makeup, and cigarettes. Red corrugated-iron sheeting in the background marks their social class and is a reminder of the physical legacy of colonialism. Their exuberant laughter is powerful, and the title suggests they are “having the last laugh”—against whom or what is an open question. Their raucousness can be read as potentially dangerous, especially in light of stereotypes of native women as sexually seductive, and of loud women—particularly black women—as aggressive. Yet here they stand, presenting themselves on their own terms: feminine, Indigenous, and exercising power in taking pleasure for themselves.

From the 2019 exhibition All Dolled Up, curated by Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvery P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming

Course History

WRIT 5, Indigenous Knowledge and Development, Kenneth Bauer, Winter 2013

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

WRIT 5, Nature and Imagination: The Meanings of Place, William Nichols, Fall 2012

SART 29, Photography I, Brian Miller, Fall 2012

SART 30, Photography II, Brian Miller, Fall 2012

SART 25, Painting I, Esme Thompson, Fall 2012

SART 25, Painting I, Enrico Riley, Fall 2012

ANTH 30, Hunters and Gatherers, Nathaniel Dominy, Fall 2012

THEA 28, Dance Composition, Ford Evans, Fall 2012

SART 15, Drawing I, Gerald Auten, Fall 2012

SART 20, SART 71, Drawing II, Drawing III, Colleen Randall, Fall 2012

NAS 42, Gender Issues in Native American Life, Vera Palmer, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50.4, Indigenous Australian Art and the Politics of Curation, Stephen Gilchrist, Winter 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50.4, Indigenous Australian Art and the Politics of Curation, Stephen Gilchrist, Winter 2012

WRIT 5, Poor Taste, William Boyer, Winter 2014

HIST 2, #EverythingHasAHistory, Matthew Delmont and Max Fraser, Fall 2019

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Fall 2019

ANTH 3.02, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Fall 2019

COCO 21, What's In Your Shoebox?, Francine A'Ness and Prudence Merton, Spring 2020

WGSS 10.01 , Sex, Gender and Society, Francine A'Ness, Fall 2021

Exhibition History

All Dolled Up, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 11-August 11, 2019.

Crossing Cultures: The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 15, 2012-March 10, 2013; Toledo Museum of Art, April 11-July 14, 2013.

Publication History

Stephen Gilchrist, editor, Crossing Cultures, The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2012, p. 59; Fig 5.2, p. 156, no. 107.

Provenance

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Paddington, New South Wales, Australia; sold to Will Owen (1952-2015) and Harvey Wagner (1931-2017), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, November 4, 2004; lent to present collection, 2011; given to present collection, 2013.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu

Subjects