Bidjara man Dr Christian Thompson AO has featured native flowering plants in his photographs to explore kinship, culture and connection to Country since the late 2000s. The multi-panel photograph The Shortest Day depicts a large-scale flower-wall, or floral constellation, within which the artist appears partially obscured by flora. Powerfully connecting the artist to nature and history, the work enacts a dynamic dialogue about identity alongside ideas of visibility and invisibility – of being seen and unseen. Through his declarative self portraiture, Thompson takes control of how First Nations people are represented, dismantling the legacies of ethnographic photography.
This is the first work that Thompson made following the failed Voice referendum of October 2023. Rather than his usual vibrant living blooms, it is an abundance of dried botanical specimens that envelop the artist. The photograph is sombre and reflective, its stillness interrupted only by the billowing ribbons. Referencing the hot desert air that Thompson fondly remembers from his childhood, the ribbons here symbolise hope in moving forward.
Purchased with lead funds provided by the Dick and Pip Smith Foundation, the Nelson Meers Foundation and the Portrait Dinner Series 2025
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