Longing Dancing Belonging Analysis

Both Fiona Foley and Hossein Valmanesh use elements from the structural frame to communicate aspects of their idea of home. Through material practice and the specific arrangement of the items they use, the message they are trying to convey is made quite clear to the audience: Foley’s “Land Deal” speaks about the European invaders and how Australian Aboriginal land was unfairly traded, as well as how something as important as home can be taken away in an instant. Valmanesh’s “Longing Belonging” is a metaphor about how he feels disconnected to the Australian landscape and yet feels a sense of similarity between the fire-shaped deserts of Australia and the dry fields of Iran, his hometown.

Fiona Foley is an Indigenous Australian photographer and installation artist. Many of her works are comments about society and racism, and she claims that her goal is to “bring forgotten or hidden histories to light as a means to assess our present in relation to the past”. “Land Deal” is a large installation work that consists of many items such as flour, tomahawks, a blanket, beads and knives.
Being an artist born in Iran, Valmanesh has always felt a sense of connection to his birth home. After he immigrated, he felt a strong affinity with the cultural spiritual connections to Australian land because of the way the eroded sands of the Australian desert echoes the often-dry landscape of Iran. “Longing Belonging” shows both the Australian and Iranian sides of his culture. The carpet design is from Iran, showing his origins, yet there is a hole burnt into is by the Australian wildfires of his new country. This work is about trying to embrace new cultures and sacrificing one way of living for another in order to belong, hence the title of the work: “Longing Belonging”. Valmanesh is longing for is home in Iran while trying to adapt to the culture and landscape of