Photographer Aletheia Casey's latest work, 'The Dark Forgetting', delves into the hidden history of Australia, focusing on little-known massacre sites in inland New South Wales. Casey, who is of British and Irish descent, says many Australians lack knowledge about their ancestors due to a culture of 'dis-remembering'.
She explains that the narrative of Australian history she grew up with celebrated the bravery of British explorers and settlers, who were seen as taming the wild landscape into a land of wealth and opportunity. This story, she argues, disempowered and disqualified the achievements of Aboriginal people.
The anthropologist William Stanner described this as 'The Great Australian Silence'—a silence not only on alternative histories but also on indigenous voices. Casey's work seeks to uncover hidden atrocities through disfigured and manipulated landscapes.
By scratching and physically manipulating the film, Casey's photographs become a reflection of what she describes as a distorted understanding of history. 'My own manipulation and distortion of the imagery is a part of my personal attempt at coming to terms with the history of the country,' she says.
The series considers how Australia's collective national identity has been informed by a manipulated version of history. Casey will speak about her work at a Tedx event in Geneva on 12 October.
