Ryan Presley’s (b.1987) paternal family is Marri Ngarr from the Moyle River region in the Northern Territory. He studied at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University completing a PhD in 2016. Presley’s work investigates themes of power and the practices of control, particularly in the way religion and economic control have worked hand in glove with colonialism, and empire building (Presley has previously used the story of the Christian warrior St George as an example of a pro-colonial narrative). His work in Trace is Themesong (Many Rivers to Cross) which sets up the tension between a scorpion and a frog on a guilted game board. Very likely alluding to the 20thc Russian Fable The Scorpion and the Frog, where a scorpion entices a frog to give it a lift on its back across a river. The frog fears that the scorpion could give it a deadly sting while swimming, but the scorpion argues if it did so they both would drown. Midway across the river the scorpion does sting the frog, and when asked by the frog, why, the scorpion simply says its in its nature. A tale perhaps of difference? inevitability? or the barbarity of colonialism?
Presley’s work has been included in: Hungry for Time, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna (2021); Just Not Australian, Artspace (2019); Trade Markings (Frontier Imaginaries Ed No. 5), Van Abbemuseum, Netherlands (2018); the 33rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Darwin; and the TarraWarra Biennial: Endless Circulation (both 2016). His recent major solo exhibition, Fresh Hell, was co-commissioned by Adelaide Contemporary Experimental and Gertrude Contemporary in 2022.
Presley’s work is held in the following collections: Museum of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Anglican Church Grammar School Art Collection, Brisbane, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Banyule Art Collection, Melbourne, Cairns Art Gallery, Gadens Lawyers Art Collection, Griffith Artworks Griffith University, Moreton Bay Regional Council Art Collection, Murdoch University Art Collection, Museum of Brisbane, Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, Reserve Bank of Australia,Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre.
