Daniel Boyd Exhibition at International Gallery
"Finnegans Wake" on View Until February 15 Next Year
Exploring Visual Systems and Representational Methods of Western Modernity
An exhibition by Daniel Boyd, an artist of Indigenous Australian descent from Cairns who has explored the perspectives and memories erased from history written through a Western-centric lens, is being held at International Gallery.
International Gallery announced on December 9 that it will host Daniel Boyd’s solo exhibition, "Finnegans Wake," at its K3 and Hanok spaces until February 15 next year. This marks the artist’s third solo show at International Gallery since 2021. The exhibition features over 30 new works created this year, introducing Boyd’s ongoing investigation into the visual systems and representational methods of Western modernity.
The works on view are based on "The Inland Sea," one of the volumes in "The Australian Children's Pictorial Social Studies," an educational comic series produced by the Australian government in 1958. Colonial settlers in Australia believed in the myth of an inland sea within the continent and searched for it. In this narrative, a character named Finnegan appears and saves European settlers. Although the Finnegan in Joyce’s novel and the Finnegan in this myth are namesakes, Boyd uses the name as a narrative device to connect his works in various ways.
Boyd considers educational and cultural tools like comics to be mechanisms that unconsciously internalize the colonial worldview, prompting questions about how history is taught and how myths are formed. He also brings the "drowning man" motif from the Australian inland sea myth-an image repeatedly appropriated by Australian contemporary artist Gordon Bennett (1955-2014)-into the K3 space, linking it to today’s political and social context.
At the center of the K3 exhibition hall stands a large painting, "Untitled (LOTAWYCAS)," which visualizes the fictional myth that has been accepted and transmitted as historical fact in Australia-the relationship between European explorers searching for a non-existent inland sea and the Indigenous guides who led them. Opposite this, "Untitled (PCSAIMTRA)," an installation work being shown in Korea for the first time, is displayed. This piece consists of five one-way mirrors, commonly used in interrogation rooms, with one side as a mirror and the other as transparent special glass. Symbolizing a unilateral gaze, this structure positions viewers to observe events they have never witnessed from an "external perspective," serving as a metaphor for the mechanisms of selective recording and biased historical narration. Boyd encourages viewers to expand the dimension of "plurality" beyond personal perception through their engagement with the work.
In the Hanok space, paintings in the format of musical scores evoke a calm yet sharp melody. The score formats, drawn from "Aboriginal Nonsense Song" and "A Corrobboree" (a ceremonial gathering of Indigenous people), metaphorically illustrate how non-Western cultures are transformed and lost as they pass through Western language and ways of thinking.
Further inside the space, collages that reconfigure educational comics are exhibited. By covering parts of the comic-like scenes with black paint, Boyd disrupts the authority and gaze of the original narrative, revealing his intent to reach hidden truths and possibilities. In the same vein, "Untitled (MDKTMOU)" juxtaposes the Australian inland sea myth with the voyage narrative of Captain James Cook, demonstrating how different mythological structures become consolidated into a single history.
Boyd’s approach of fragmenting and reassembling images continues in his recent exploration of mythological figures. "Untitled (BBBPTM)" and "Untitled (TDLRHTY)" feature Poseidon, the god ruling the sea, while "Untitled (STGLWOAGLM)" and "Untitled (FWIGSKWIK)" depict Apollo, the archetype of beauty created by Western Romanticism. Through this, Boyd critically exposes the structures of white supremacy and questions how mythologized truths are constructed.
Meanwhile, Daniel Boyd was born in Cairns, Australia, and is currently based in Sydney. His works are held in major institutions worldwide, including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Natural History Museum in London.
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