Eric J Michaels – Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt panel

Quilt panel, part of Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, in memory of 'Eric Michaels', cotton / paint, maker unknown, Australia, circa 1990 Rectangular quilt panel, landscape orientation, red painted background. In the centre an Aboriginal motive radiates across the panel. 'ERIC / MICHAELS' is hand painted in green. The aboriginal motifs may represent a journey (the lines) and various meeting places (the concentric circles). Appliqued canvas strips bear the following place names 'PERTH, Kintore, CANBERRA, ALICE SPRINGS, Ernabella, BRISBANE, SYDNEY and Yurntumu'. A canvas strip has a design of multiple crosses and circles. This quilt is in memory of Eric J. Michaels (b.about 1948 d. 1988 ). From an article in the Sydney Morning Herald dated November 17, 1990: Eric J Michaels was an American born author and anthropologist. He moved to Australia in 1982. For five years he was based at Yuenduma, in the Central Desert where he studied the effects of western media on remote Warlpiri communities. He had two works published in his life time. The Aboriginal invention of Television (1986) and For a Cultured Future (1988). His third publication 'Unbecoming: An AIDS Diary' provides further insight to this gifted writer . He was a lecturer in media studies at Griffith University, Brisbane. The Department of Immigration rejected his application for permanent residency when it learned he was HIV positive. He died shortly after receiving this news. In the foreword of Eric's diary, Paul Foss summarised his career in these terms: "After finishing his doctorate, Eric accepted a fellowship from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in Canberra to research the impact of television on remote Aboriginal communities - eventually published as The Aboriginal Invention of Television, 1982-86 (Canberra, AIAS, 1986). He remained in the Central/ Western Desert region where he involved himself in claims by Aboriginal media associations for increased local autonomy in video production and circulation (cf. "Aboriginal Content: Who's Got It - Who Needs It", Art & Text, 23-24, 1987; and For a Cultural Future: Francis Jupurrurla Makes TV at Yuendumu, Melbourne, Art & Criticism Monograph Series, Vol. 3, 1988). At the same time, Eric became interested in the new acrylic 'dot paintings' carried out at Yuendumu and Papunya, occasioning the essays "Western Desert Sandpainting and Post-Modernism" (in Warlukurlangu Artists, Kuruwarri: Yuendumu Doors, Canberra, AIAS, 1987) and "Bad Aboriginal Art" (Art & Text, 28, 1988). With these writings, exemplary in their refusal to romanticise indigenous cultures, Eric gained a wide following in Australia for his non-ethnographic approach to Aboriginal video and art." Michaels, E. (1990).Unbecoming: an AIDS diary. Sydney: Empress Publishing. pp. 12-13 The Australian Journal of Media and Culture Vol 3 no 1 and 2(1990) Communication and Tradition: Essays after Eric Michaels appear to be a critique of his work. Tara Brabazon reviewed 'Bad Aboriginal Art' and said 'Eric Michaels remains one of the most influential scholars in my life. This collection, with a foreword by Dick Hebdige, brings together many of his essays and reports on and with the Warlpiri Media Association. His understanding of language and the spaces of media are without equal. This is a beautifully presented collection and a fine introduction to his work. ‘