Biography

Daniel Boyd, the first indigenous Australian to win the prestigious Bulgari Art Award, focuses his practice on images of colonial and postcolonial Australian-European history. He reinterprets portraits of prominent figures in his signature black-and-white dotted style, suggesting an alternative truth underlying the representation of these so-called heroes. In King No Beard (2007), King George III is adorned with an eye patch and parrot like a pirate. Boyd’s practice is research-intensive; during a three-month residency at the Natural History Museum, he studied the relationship between aboriginal people and the British Empire. By presenting in-depth narratives, Boyd resurfaces what has been lost to history. According to the artist, it is important for native peoples in Australia to “continue to create dialogue from their own perspective, to challenge the subjective history that has been created.”