Dig Deeper is available as part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Getting into the art world is an obscenely difficult thing to do at the best of times, especially when it comes to getting your work displayed at any major gallery. This is especially hard for indigenous art which is often not given the amount of respect, attention and potential space that it deserves. It also tends to often be pigeonholed as art rooted in history that predates most people viewing it which leaves out a substantial element of indigenous art. Dig Deeper takes a look at four specific indigenous artists who stand out for pointedly defying that image and making it big in the art world and their work is absolutely stunning.
Throughout Dig Deeper we are slowly introduced to a quartet of indigenous artists, Maree Clarke, Blak Douglas, Penny Evans and Ben McKeown who all work within the art world creating indigenous art utilizing a lot of current technology and ideas in ways that makes it stand out from what a lot of galleries would have us believe is indigenous art. Throughout the film we learn about the difficulties these artists face getting their art presented to the public (in part due to that stigma), the history of their artforms and the influences behind it and the emotional/physical toll that is taken by these artists in pursuit of their careers as artists.
This short film hits the ground running by quickly introducing us to the four central artists and their art styles, acting as a miniature display of their entire body of work (or at least as much as can be slipped in through a brief slideshow while they talk about their work) and letting the audience get to know them before we dig into the deeper issues of this career. It’s fascinating jumping between the various people, all of whom are immensely talented and creating some truly fascinating works that should all be in any gallery worth a damn and see them running headfirst into the plethora of problems that comes with this territory.
In the brief time that we get with each artist, you get a glimpse of just how hard this can be but also how rewarding, from one artist winning a big prize in the art world (for a particularly gorgeous painting, itmakes the jaw drop how spectacular it looks) to another getting a big job putting their artwork in a series of tunnels that’ll make up a major underground station, therefore meaning their art will be in one spot for generations to come are some truly intense highs. There are also the low moments such as the general discussions of the issues regarding how people receive their work because it’s so different to people’s expectations or just the toll it takes to get an artwork physically displayed (ask anyone who has ever done an installation in a gallery space how hard it can be on the body, prepare for some horror stories).
With only 50 minutes to tell the story of these artists, Dig Deeper does a fantastic job at not only presenting the highs and lows of the art world but in making sure each of these artists has a moment to show off what makes them stand out in this industry. It’s focused and pointed, giving you a quick but powerful glimpse into the world that these artists inhabit and letting their talent and passion shine. Brief but powerful, Dig Deeper digs just deep enough to get the job done.
Movie Meister Reviews 