In 1988, against a backdrop of nationwide events marking the bicentenary of the arrival of the British First Fleet in Australia, the Sydney Mardi Gras featured a First Nations float for the first time. Leading it was the Aboriginal and South Sea Islander dancer and activist Malcolm Cole, who appeared at the parade dressed as the British naval officer James Cook, who claimed Australia as a British colony in 1770 under the doctrine of terra nullius, which translates from latin as 'nobody's land: Malcolm's performance mocked this idea and asserted the place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original custodians of the country - all while celebrating his own identity as a First Nations, queer man.
Malcolm died in 1995 of complications from HIV/ AIDS, but his legacy lives on - and was celebrated at the 24th Biennale of Sydney. At this year's Mardi Gras, Robert Cole, Malcolm's twin brother, restaged Malcolm's performance on a float organised by the Biennale of Sydney. A few days later, when the biennale's exhibition at White Bay Power Station opened to the public, visitors were greeted by a 13-metre-tall portrait of Malcolm dressed as Cook, which was commissioned for the exhibition from Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander artist Dylan Mooney.
While Robert's performance at Mardi Gras was a tribute to his brother, a trailblazing activist from the past, the biennale's float was also an introduction to queer indigenous artists working today. It was overseen by Yangamini, a collective of transgender and non-binary First Nations artists initiated by Tiwi-Warlpiri sistagirl Elder Crystal Love Johnson Kerinauia. Yangamini's float featured a handful of their colourful sculptures and displayed their riotous humour, managing to combine a comment on the environmental threat facing the Tiwi Islands with joyous art and performances that reflected the diversity of their gender-fluid community.
Artist William Yang, who photographed Malcolm's original performance - and whose own work was exhibited at multiple venues across the biennale - accompanied the biennale's float this year to document Roberts performance.
