#as a tasmanian i am filled with a boundless hatred for john and jane franklin for mathinna.

[alexanderpearce]

Out of Flavour: Tasteless desires from an avaricious empire

Sue Kneebone, 2023, here shown at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for Twist.

In 1845, Sir John Franklin led a costly polar exploration in which no one survived. His wife, Lady Jane Franklin, financed numerous search parties, some of which left canned foods on the Arctic ice in the desperate hope that her husband would find them. Other strategies included capturing Arctic foxes to which notes were attached to tell any survivors where to find food.

When reports from later suggested the crew resorted to cannibalism, Lady Jane requested Charles Dickens redeem her husband's reputation by reporting the crew's remains were not mutilated, but they had died 'passively' from cold and hunger.

... While the cans reflect poverty and thrift, Kneebone's zoomorphic cutlery set evokes the unquenchable greed and folly of the British Empire ...

In 1845, Tasmania's ex-Governor Sir John Franklin travelled with his own personalised cutlery set on his costly and ill-fated Arctic expedition.

The litter piece references Lady Jane Franklin's travels through the wilderness of lutruwita/Tasmania, where she was carried by convicts on a sedan chair/litter.