Art, Law, Justice Project
In June 2020, powerful images of defaced statues of historical figures linked to slavery and colonialism were broadcast around the world. The Black Lives Matter protest image of ballerinas Kennedy George and Ava Holloway standing on a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee, that was graffitied with anti-racism slogans, captured me. A chance conversation with an intellectual property law colleague, transformative art and moral rights scholar Sarah Hook, led us to question: When a public statue of a contested historical figure within the copyright term is defaced, what are the intellectual property law implications?
Given that graffiti is typically approached as a criminal law issue, Sarah and I were interested in uncovering the symbolism of the more hidden, yet diffuse, private rights that exist in public artworks, and what they mean for anti-racism protest.
In the course of Sarah and I researching the legal status of anti-racism graffiti, I met iconoclasm scholar and PhD candidate Nikolas Orr by chance at the University of Newcastle. Nik soon joined the project, contributing the language of fine arts and a deep understanding of the politics and generative nature of ideological vandalism and its history to our legal analysis. A co-authored paper by myself, Sarah and Nik was published in early 2022.
This piece of interdisciplinary legal scholarship was just the beginning of an art, law, justice project that has expanded exponentially and organically. The project went on to include artist Travis De Vries, who created a digital artwork that responds to the themes of the journal article; composer and percussionist Adam Manning who created a sonic response to Travis’ artwork and the underpinning research; Rewa Wright who advised on social design issues in the context of an Art Law Justice Exhibition of the research; and over 45 Intellectual Property Law students from the University of Newcastle, who participated in qualitative research after studying the academic paper and Travis’ art as part of a Critical Perspectives on Copyright Module in semester 1, 2022. An article authored by myself, Sarah, Nik, Adam and Rewa that discusses some of the key findings from the research with the university students was published in Nuart Journal in June 2023.
The project presents a multi-facetted, cross-cultural account of art, law, and justice, from multiple perspectives. It traverses pressing social justice issues; the way in which law can symbolically devalue racial interests as against the rights of creators in public spaces; and the need for cultural responsiveness in legal education. Through the contributions of Travis, Adam and Rewa, the project also, most importantly, presents a world of First Nations sovereignty and the importance of conversation in confronting and moving through colonial legacies.
View presentations using the following links:
Marie Hadley (w/ Travis De Vries and Adam Manning), ‘Visual and material methods‘ Social Research Skills for Social Justice Problems Workshop, Centre for Law and Social Justice (October 2022)
Marie Hadley (w/ Travis De Vries), ‘Art as method: talking back to law’s prioritisation of racist statues in settler colonial states‘ Law and Society Association Annual Meeting (July 2022)
Marie Hadley, Sarah Hook, Nikolas Orr, ‘What the vandalism of public art statues in Australia tells us about the racial investments of copyright and the moral right of integrity‘ Law and Society Association Annual Meeting (May 2021)
Marie Hadley and Travis De Vries, ‘Art as Legal Method‘ (Blog: 30 January 2023) Critical Legal Thinking
Interview: Travis De Vries and Marie Hadley, ‘Entropy Awakening: Counter Monuments and Anti-Racism Inventions’ (Podcast: 8 October 2022) ABC Radio National: ABC AWAYE with Rudi Bremer
‘Art challenges law and racism’ (5 October 2022) 786 Koori Mail, 33.
Interview: Marie Hadley and Travis De Vries (2 October 2022) ABC Radio: Sunday Afternoons with Lauren Butterly
Laura Gamio, ‘Visit: Entropy/Awakening’ exhibition‘ (29 September 2022) Law Society Journal Online
Rita Bratovich, ‘First Nations Sovereignty Explored Through Art’ (21 September 2022) City Hub
Contributors
Sarah Hook: Coauthor of academic journal article, Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Western Sydney University
Nikolas Orr: Coauthor of academic journal article, sessional academic and PhD candidate at the Centre for Studies of Violence, University of Newcastle
Travis De Vries: Researcher and collaborator in exhibition and academic presentations, artist
Adam Manning: Sonic response, musician and producer; Associate Lecturer, School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science, University of Newcastle
Rewa Wright: Social design, media artist; Senior Lecturer, QUT