the artist |3| collage |1|

Opposite: Untitled. Collage of Australian Banknotes is concerned with the promotion of human rights. The work is collage on a 3 x 5 m surface. Its medium is Australian paper currency and as such invokes a conceptual relationship with its subject matter of political disappearances - a form of state sanctioned repression to subdue mass protest over economic exploitation. The act of defacing money as an art medium in this work has engaged in debate the attention of police, lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians, journalists and academics among others.

Untitled was first publicised in 1984 on the Australian Broadcasting Commission's national television news.

 
Untitled. Collage of Australian Banknotes (Detail 1) © 1982 John Reid
300x500 cm Australian banknotes, card, cedar