“Big Pharmakon”
Steven Rhall
20 Mar → 2 May 2021

Steven Rhall, ‘Big Pharmakon’, 2021, West Space, Collingwood Yards, Wurundjeri Country. Photography by Janelle Low.

Steven Rhall's Big Pharmakon is a transdisciplinary project exploring the relationship between First Nations artists and the institution, in their various physical, bureaucratic and political forms.

Physically bound by the West Space gallery, Big Pharmakon employs ‘exhibition as form’ in response to the presentation of art by First Nations people, positing the exhibition as a slippery site of colonial power.

Through multichannel video, performance and installation, Big Pharmakon unpacks inherited colonial power that continues to influence how First Nations people produce and present creative outcomes and the ways these practices are located within artistic and museological histories. This project builds upon Rhall’s recent projects that respond to the positioning, politics and experiences working within the colonised space.

Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows 4 semi-transparent fabric sheets in front of 3 windows in the West Space Gallery. The first sheet is red with a small triangular yellow section in the top right. The second shows a segment of a yellow circle bisected by a red triangle in the bottom left over a black background. The third and fourth sheets are completely black. On the ground in front of the sheets are two speakers and a small analog television.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows 4 semi-transparent fabric sheets in front of 3 windows in the West Space Gallery. The first sheet is red with a small triangular yellow section in the top right. The second shows a segment of a yellow circle bisected by a red triangle in the bottom left over a black background. The third and fourth sheets are completely black. On the ground in front of the sheets are two speakers.
The image shows a small analog television sitting on the ground with a red sheet partially visible on the right side of the image. The screen shows a distorted image of 3 people and is connected to the wall with a bright yellow wire.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows 2 semi-transparent fabric sheets hanging in front of a counter with a small analog television in West Space Gallery. The first sheet is red with a small triangular yellow section in the top right. The second shows a segment of a yellow circle bisected by a red triangle in the bottom left over a black background. A small speaker sits on the ground between the two sheets.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows 3 sheets hanging in the foreground. The left most sheet is completely black while the middle sheet shows a segment of a yellow circle bisected by a red triangle in the bottom right over a black background. The right most sheet is only partially visible and shows a yellow triangle in the top left over a red background. Two speakers sit on the floor between the sheets and a small analog television is visible in the background on a countertop.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows 4 semi-transparent fabric sheets hanging in front of 3 windows in the West Space Gallery. The first sheet is partially visible and is red with a small triangular yellow section in the top right. The second shows a segment of a yellow circle bisected by a red triangle in the bottom left over a black background. The third and fourth sheets are completely black. On the ground in front of the sheets are two speakers. The back wall shows a projection of a representation of a large building-like structure.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows a side on view of 3 semi-transparent sheets hanging from the roof. The closest sheet shows a segment of a yellow circle bisected by a red triangle over a black background. The two sheets in the background are completely black. The back and right side walls show a projection of a close-up of a person with black and white facepaint. 2 large windows are visible on the left side of the space.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows two walls displaying a large close-up projection of a person with white facepaint and black facepaint surrounding their eyes. The person is wide-eyed and looks upwards.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image is a side on view of two black semi-transparent sheets hanging from the roof in West Space Gallery. Between the two sheets a speaker sits on the floor with a plastic rock sitting behind it.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows two black semi-transparent sheets hanging from the ceiling in front of two large windows in West Space Gallery. In front of the sheets a small speaker and a plastic rock sit on the floor.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows a countertop with a small analog television and a structure made of wood and glass. A large black curtain hangs behind the counter. To the left of the counter are two projections of a close-up of a person with black and white facepaint.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". The image shows a countertop with a glass and wood structure with a camera inside of it. A large black curtain hangs behind the counter with a small hole in it.
Installation view of "Big Pharmakon". On the right of the image is a countertop with a small analog television on a pile of books and wood and glass structure containing a camera. To the left of the counter a projection is partially visible showing a series of diagonal parallel lines.

Steven Rhall is a post-conceptual artist operating from a First Nation, white-passing, cis male, positionality. Rhall's interdisciplinary practice responds to the intersectionality of First Nation art practice and the Western art canon. He interrogates modes of representation, classification and hierarchy using installation, performance, process lead methodologies, 'curatorial' projects, sculpture, and via public & private interventions.