Freetown

Freetown; capital of Sierra Leone; ‘Province of Freedom’. The premise for its establishment: a location for emancipated slaves following the abolition of slavery.

The process of British liberation resulted in the relocation of Africans to an idealised and constructed freedom, often far from the life before. One that is imposed rather than chosen.

Imposition is a common theme across the works in Freetown. They are about the idea of freedom. A freedom that is complex, constructed and idealist.

A lion painting shows the return of the animal to its natural environment after captivity. The titles are love songs to illustrate a romantic idea of freedom.  

—Daniel Boyd, 2009

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Daniel Boyd is a Kudjla/Gangalu man from Far North Queensland. He was born in Cairns in 1982, and has been exhibiting his work nationally and internationally since 2005. In 2007 Boyd was selected for the first National Indigenous Art Triennal, Culture Warriors, curated by Brenda L. Croft at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. This significant show has since toured to the Art Gallery of South Australia (2008), the Art Gallery of Western Australia (2008), the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2009) and is currently on display at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington DC. Other group exhibitions include: Octopus 9: I forget to forget, curated by Stephen Gilchrist, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne (2009); Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland (2008); Lines in the Sand-Botany Bay Stories From 1770, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea (2008); If you see something say something, Gallery 4a, Sydney (2007); Right Here Right Now, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2006); and From the Edge, Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery, and the Ivan Dougherty Gallery, UNSW, Sydney (2006). Boyd’s work is held by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, as well as numerous private collections nationally. Freetown is Daniel Boyd’s first exhibition with Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.