£100,000 (2021)

Gadigal soil from underneath Carriageworks, vinyl

150 cm x 150 cm

Commissioned by Firstdraft for No Show at Carriageworks 2021

£100,000

The Carriageworks site is celebrated as the historical birthplace of Australian rail industry and of union movements that spread across the continent. That history dates back to 1880, when the site was bought for £100,000 – more than $16 million today. But to whom was £100,000 paid? £100,000 was not paid to the Gadigal people who have continued to care for the land since time immemorial; whose relation to the land could never be bought, sold or traded. Scratch the surface of the Carriageworks facade and there is 100,000 years of sovereignty beneath this concrete.

In her site-specific installation £100,000, Wiradjuri artist Jazz Money reveals the shallow memory of colonial history. By literally unearthing layers of text through soil laid down on the concrete floor of Carriageworks, Money invites the audience to consider the complexity of Country that has always existed – beneath their feet, within the skies, throughout the waterways. Sovereignty never ceded.

Read more about £100,000 here.