Powerful new work at MCA commemorates deaths in custody

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Australia released a new site-specific sculpture created by Australian contemporary artist Reko Rennie.

Remember Us (2023) pays tribute to the 551 Aboriginal people who had died in police custody at the time this work was made. The memorial piece recognises that the number of these deaths continue to rise.

The momentous work is the first in a series of marble sculptures that Rennie is currently creating. The marble material was selected by Rennie due to its weight, symbolising the heavy abuse of power embedded into the Australian policing system.

The piece was installed on Gadigal land and references the marble inscriptions of ancient Rome. Through a First Nations reclamation of the Eurocentric marble medium, Rennie aims to achieve wider acknowledgement, discourse and action surrounding the issue at hand.

 Remember Us (2023) is the sixth Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission and will be on display until September 2024. The on-going program is named in honour of Mrs Loti Smorgon AO (1918-2013), who worked together with her husband to donate 149 artworks to the MCA Collection.

Rennie is a Melbourne-based artist and Kamilaroi man who specialises in diverse practice across painting, sculpture, installation, and video work. The art highlights Rennie’s Aboriginal identity to showcase themes of Indigenous culture, self-determination and identity in urban environments.

 Remember Us (2023) is dedicated to those who are no longer here to speak for themselves. Rennie believes these people deserve to have their cases heard and results actioned.

October 4, 2023 – September 2024

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 140 George Street, The Rocks

 www.mca.com.au