The Australian Object : Making Material Histories

This boundary-breaking volume examines an array of objects that, in various ways, complicate narrow definitions of art and Australian identity.It shows how each object has informed and enriched contemporary Australian personal and political life in complex, often overlooked ways.Featuring essays and object case studies by leading and emerging art historians, artists, curators, historians and anthropologists, The Australian Object offers a material intervention into Australian art and cultural histories by highlighting objects that expand definitions of art, nationhood and identity.It employs an object-led approach that combines art history’s attentiveness to form and meaning with material culture’s concern for use, materials and patterns of movement, incorporating methodologies from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge systems, art-making, museology, post- and de-colonialism, ecology, design and theology.Focusing on the useful, mobile and multi-sensory aspects of objects, co