Two-channel digital video with no sound 2x 16:9, 5 min 29 seconds

Empowering Identity positions the artist at the threshold of Botany Bay in Sydney – the site of Cook’s arrival in 1770, draped in a cape that moves with the wind across the landscape and seascape. The viewer is invited to see what the artist is witnessing across the land and waters: standing between the two headlands, watching planes flying through the sky, looking across the waters where colonial history and living Aboriginal culture meet. The cape, a recurring motif in Golding’s practice, invokes sovereignty, presence and the power of contemporary Aboriginal identity, drawing connections between popular cultural figures like the superhero and the enduring strength of First Nations peoples.

The work holds both the beauty and disruption of this place in a single frame with the glint of tidal waters, the weight of sandstone country, the sky crossed by the industrial rhythms of the port. In turning his back to the viewer, Golding redirects the gaze outward, toward Country, and inward, toward history.

Photo Credit: Image by artist
excerpt link: https://www.dennisgolding.com/visual-artspractice?pgid=kl03ho3c-3a8a7883-5978-4893-ad58-
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