Melbourne-based artist Cameron Hayes brings his unique and confronting body of work, The Incomplete History of Milikapiti to Alcaston Gallery for first time. Cameron Hayes lived for two years on Milikapiti on Melville Island (one of the Tiwi Islands), 105 kilometres off the north-coast of Darwin. Cameron re-tells his own fragmented version of Milikapiti’s history, as he observes the change to roles, power and purpose of the Tiwi people since the introduction of White culture.

This show is not a photographically accurate account of Milikapiti, this is my story and I get to decide who's in it and what they do.
-Cameron Hayes 2012

The crucial thing to understand with Cameron Hayes’ approach is that he is truly an impartial observer. It is not only a re-telling of Milikapiti history, it is a narrative ploy. He uses his experiences, the visual feast of Tiwi culture and history, as a metaphor for universal themes. The displacement of the young, the old, alternative cultures, values, anything that contravenes the structure and value of the dominant society becomes casualties along the way.

Some works from this show have been previously exhibited at the City Library Gallery in Melbourne, and at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York, and Alcaston Gallery is thrilled to present this important exhibition including new paintings and sculpture by Cameron Hayes.

Cameron Hayes is represented by and exhibits with Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York.