Dimboola artist Mars Drum spent one year wearing a burqa. Her interpretation of Ned Kelly is appearing in an exhibition about the iconic Australian figure.
Ned Kelly complete with armour walks across the Pink Lake in Dimboola holding the hand of a woman dressed in a burqa.
This photograph is appearing in an exhibition at the Bendigo Art Galley called Imagining Ned.
This mythical Australian figure has polarised opinion for decades, many see him either as a hero or a murderous outlaw.
“I see Ned Kelly as a folk hero. I see him as a fighter for human rights,” Ms Drum said.
The exhibition revisits the story of Ned Kelly and explores the complexity of the myth.
“There is a lot more to the story than Glenrowan,” said Leanne Fitzgibbon, co-curator of the exhibition.
Ms Drum decided to portray her hero alongside a woman in a burqa. To her there are similarities between the two characters.
Both wear protective costumes against the oppression they experience in their new countries as newly arrived immigrants.
“Burka Woman has come to Australia and she is getting thrown into detention because she came from a certain country and I likened that to Ned being the oppressed Irishman in Australia at the wrong time,” Ms Drum said.
Both Ned Kelly and the burqa have fascinated Mars for many years.
Her introduction to Ned Kelly began on the annual two-week family holiday from Banyeena to Bright. As they passed through Glenrowan she would gaze up at the figures on top of the shops.
They always stopped and made sure they paid a visit to the museum.
“He was our western movie hero,” Ms Drum said.
Her fascination with burqas began when she travelled the world in the early nineties, visiting many Muslim countries and then while working as a teacher in London, as many of her students wore burqas.
“Most of the time they had to wear the burqa as that was what was expected of them in their culture. But a couple of them said they chose to wear them because they felt more protected by them,” she said.
Ms Drum began painting her True History of Ned Kelly and Burka Woman series over 10 years ago. So far she has over 120 art works.
It began as a response to the war in Afghanistan then continued with the war in Iraq.
Then in support of Muslim women after September 11, Ms Drum began wearing a burqa when out in public.
“My response was to wear the burka because the women in burqa’s weren’t coming out of their houses because of the anti-Islam feelings,” she said.
She decided to bring the two characters together in her artwork, particularly as she sees Ned Kelly in a protective role of trying to protect his mother and sister.
“He is offering his hand of friendship to the Burka Woman. They are companions. He is helping her assimilate into Australia,” she said.
The exhibition includes a diverse range of artworks across most mediums from ceramics to film and everything in between including photographs of Mick Jagger on set during the filming of the 1970 film, Ned Kelly, taken by Robert Whitaker.
There are also many Sydney Nolan works including two oversized woolen tapestries he commissioned of his work.
“It’s exciting to see how the myth has been perpetuated by visual artists,” said Ms Fitzgibbon.
The exhibition, Imaging Ned, is on at The Bendigo Art Gallery from 28 March to 28 June.