Deep Reads: New Acquisitions from Dylan Bolger’s ‘Leaf SZN’ Series

Earlier this year, Dylan was engaged as Artist in Residence at Museum of Brisbane (MoB). He spent more than six weeks onsite, completing the 100^th and final work of ‘Leaf SZN’. This series is now complete and MoB is delighted to announce the acquisition of three works: Ninety Five (Dornoch) (2024), Ninety Seven (south Boundary) (2024) and Ninety Nine (north Boundary) (2024).

These important acquisitions reflect MoB’s ongoing commitment to platforming First Nations voices through collection development. Unlike other works in ‘Leaf SZN’, they explicitly incorporate cartography. As Dylan shares, maps are far from simple objects. Historically, they have been used as a colonial tool to demarcate occupied land and claim it for the empire. In Australia, the British failed to understand, let alone acknowledge, Aboriginal people’s care for and connection to the land. This wilful ignorance served to legitimise the dispossession of Aboriginal people and deny Aboriginal sovereignty. In this context, maps became instruments of British conquest and control. To this day, they continue to reinforce the colonial interpretation of place.

In these new acquisitions, Dylan interrogates the colonial ideology behind maps, while reasserting Aboriginal presence. The first of the works, Ninety Five (Dornoch), features the outline of a macaranga leaf, superimposed by a historic real estate map. From the mid-1800s, numerous Brisbane properties were parcelled, subdivided and sold in response to the city’s growing population and outward sprawl. Real estate firms began to create promotional maps to share information and appeal to potential customers. In this work, Dylan appropriates an advertisement produced by Isles, Love & Co to market the sale of Reservoir Estate in Highgate Hill.[1] To disrupt the colonial ideology underpinning the map, Dylan cleverly adapts the language it features: ‘Reservoir Estate’ becomes ‘Privilege Estate’; ‘Sale on the Ground’ becomes ‘Sale of the Land’; and ‘Isles, Love & Co’ becomes ‘Death, Love & Co’. He also changes the date from ‘26^th August 1911’ to ‘26^th January 1918’ – a direct critique of the continued celebration of ‘Australia Day’, which many regard as ‘Invasion Day’, ‘Survival Day’ or ‘Day of Mourning’.[2]  Further emphasising the challenging history of this country, he adjusts the terms of sale to ‘White Australia: Australia for Australians’. These words and the design in which they sit derive from a badge used by the Australian Natives’ Association, a group founded by white Australian-born men who, among other things, supported the White Australia policy. The Australian Government introduced this policy in 1901, effectively stopping people of colour from immigrating. This blatantly racist policy persisted until 1973.

Dylan does not shy away from colour, often choosing a bright palette to create a strong presence for his works. Ninety Five (Dornoch) draws the eye through blocks of red and yellow, a clear reference to the colours of the Aboriginal flag. This palette continues in Ninety Seven (south Boundary), while Ninety Nine (north Boundary) adopts cooler tones. These two works are, in many ways, companion pieces. Dylan uses them to expose Brisbane’s history of racial division through the form of Boundary Streets. In the 1800s, these streets were introduced to demarcate where Aboriginal people were policed not to enter after evening curfew.[3] Both of the works feature the outline of a macaranga leaf, obscured by a map of contemporary Brisbane. Using colour, Dylan delineates the perimeter created by the Boundary Streets that, while no longer serving their original purpose, still exist today, acting as poignant reminders of this city’s history.