Collection Details

Name/TitleJust Dawn

About this objectArtist statement:
'Just Dawn' is a response to two speeches that former Australian prime minister, Gough Whitlam, delivered in Blacktown in 1972 and 1974. Throughout the video, a series of white words and phrases fade in and out as a virtual camera flies towards an abstract horizon line. The narrative thread of the text is directed towards an unnamed Whitlam through the repeated appearance of the words ‘you said’. As the video progresses, the colours of the animated background slowly brighten to resemble an emerging dawn, and the sound, text and camera movements build in frequency and intensity. As they do so, the once optimistic outlook becomes increasingly unsteady. In these ways, 'Just Dawn' is equal parts homage to and lament for the ideological acuity and ambition of Whitlam’s agenda. It explores how Whitlam’s words can become markers for the complexities of both his own specific transformative policies, and the character of the socially progressive movement more broadly.

Grant Stevens is an Australian artist. His art practice explores how the verbal and non-verbal ‘languages’ of popular screen culture interface with contemporary forms of subjectivity and communication. He has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally.

MakerStevens, Grant

Maker RoleArtist

Date Made2014

Medium and MaterialsDigital video with sound, RT: 3:15 minutes

Place MadeOceania, Australia

TechniqueFilmed

MeasurementsRT: 3:15 minutes. Projected image: variable

Named CollectionBlacktown City Art Collection

Credit Line© the artist
Acquired 2014, Its Timely exhibition, Blacktown Arts Centre.

Object TypeVideo

Object numberBCC SVS 001