Figures and Territories of the Australian Desert. A dual landscape
The capacity for action and the system design function of art as regards the identity constructs emerging from territorial representations is examined based on the example of certain desert areas represented through images rather than speeches or stories. As it happens, certain iconic figures and their travels are largely responsible for the fact that since the conquest of the 19th century, for both Australians and Americans alike, the central deserts of their respective countries have been seen and experienced as fundamental identity sites. Moreover, in the case of Australia, the desert is still a focal point for conceptions of national identity. By observing the migrations of images, artefacts and actors as a series of mediations and translations leading to relocations of meaning, we can understand how the image of the desert has been developed and how the desert has become the figure and site of a dual and eventually even a shared identity for Australian Aborigines and Whites.