Seven Days Of Blue (No. 3, 6, 7)

Clinton Nain is a flamboyant and evocative performer who explores racial politics through visual art, storytelling, song and dance. Nain explores political themes with his technique of bleach on fabrics and paper. Since his series White King, Blak Queen in 1999, this technique has become his trademark. 

Nain writes: 

‘We have a fear of stains. They must be removed, bleached out with White King. But the shadows, the memories remain. Bleach usually turns things white, but whitewashing Blackness – chaotically – makes only stains and shadows.’ 

Nain tells stories of colonisation, cruelty, spiritual strength and cultural survival. The bleach evokes images of fading memories and prompts the viewer to remember the cruelty and sadness of colonial history. Nain wants people to acknowledge that Aboriginal people were herded onto missions and reserves where, he says, they were metaphorically bleached: bleached of their language, bleached of their children, bleached of their pride, bleached of their everyday life – a stain on the history of Australia.