Richard Bell, Embassy, 2013-
After travelling for three years - starting at the Australian parliament in Canberra - the Aboriginal embassy arrived in Arnhem. Between the white villa, and the Lorentz-monument, to be more precise. This completes the story: one of the first Aboriginal reserves is named Arnhemland. This areas was named after Arnhem, even though Aboriginals have been living there for over 25.000 years. This fact was emphasised by Aboriginal artist Richard Bell, who takes on the role as ambassador in his pop-up embassy.
Richard started the embassy project because of his own struggles. Its meant to be a satire about the division and inequality that still exists between Australians and Aboriginals. With both humor and criticism, Bell aimed to discuss colonisation and racism. He also organised a symposium, invited speakers to share experiences about what it's like to be Aboriginal in Australia. Everybody in Australia knows about the division within their society, but nobody talks about it: it's the elephant in the room.