My creative practice takes place on the lands of the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Woiwurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, acknowledging their deep and ongoing spiritual connection to Country. I extend my respects to Wathaurong Waddawurrung peoples, whose lands I was birthed and raised upon that have deeply shaped me and my experiences.

I acknowledge Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri custodianship of the lands, waterways and skies that I continue to live, work and benefit from, recognising that sovereignty was never ceded. I come with an intention to deepen my understanding of ancestral pathways as a diasporic being, while sharing, learning and creating on unceded lands (Melbourne, Australia).

I extend this acknowledgement and pay my respects to peer African and Indigenous peoples across the globe viewing this website.

The Purple Shall Govern - PICA

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar - Perth
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3 Nov - 31 Dec 2023

Naarm (Melbourne) based artist Roberta Joy Rich takes the transformative 'Purple Rain Protest' as the basis for her solo exhibition, The Purple Shall Govern. Juxtaposing the harsh histories of segregation in settler nation South Africa and Australia, Rich interrogates who has access to public space – then and now.

From 1948 to 1994 in South Africa, Apartheid defined the lives and determined the active institutionalised segregation of Black* peoples who were forced to live separately from the White minority, while restricting their political rights and freedom. In her exhibition, Rich notes the historic connections between colonial Australia and South Africa, with the concept of Apartheid being birthed in Australia well before South African government legislation was developed.

Pairing her family’s archival objects from the Apartheid era with Australian and South African archival broadcast media and recent sound and video works, Rich prompts us to question how power plays out in public spaces. Who can move freely without fear or hindrance and whose experiences are mitigated?

The exhibition borrows its title from a slogan that was graffitied across Cape Town following the Purple Rain Protest. On this day, police arrived with heavy artillery and water cannons filled with purple dye, intended to mark protesters they planned to arrest. Instead, a protester commandeered one of these canons and unleashed the purple liquid onto buildings and crowds, showering them in purple and momentarily dissolving racial segregation. ‘The Purple Shall Govern’ began appearing on buildings around the city in a sly reference to the protest and the words of the 1955 Freedom Charter that declared, ‘The People Shall Govern’.

Rich recreates this day, transforming PICA’s gallery into a space swathed in purple light. The Purple Shall Govern encourages us to consider our relationship to colonial occupation and celebrates the immense resilience, strength and ongoing survival of Bla(c)k people.

This project was first presented by Footscray Community Arts in 2022 as part of Who’s Afraid of Public Space? in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Roberta Joy Rich would like to thank and acknowledge support from the South African History Archive and Dr Gary Foley and the Aboriginal History Archive.

Public Program and Boorloo Cultural Consultant: Sandra Harben
Footscray Community Arts Elders in Residence Consultants: N‘arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM & Uncle Larry Walsh
Producers: Eliki Reade and Bernadette Fitzgerald
Production Manager: Ashley Buchanan
Sound Consultant: Marco Cher-Gibard
Catalogue writer: Dr. Zayd Minty

*Black is used in the spirit of The Black Consciousness Movement

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Wide daytime view of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, a red-brick heritage building with purple exhibition banners, framed by tall trees, purple-painted entrance arches and a paved courtyard.
Low-angle view of PICA’s red-brick tower, purple-painted entrance arches, and a large banner promoting Roberta Joy Rich’s exhibition The Purple Shall Govern.
Gallery landing with wooden floors and introductory wall text for Roberta Joy Rich’s The Purple Shall Govern, alongside two archival newspaper articles
Two archival newspaper articles about Cape Town’s 1989 Purple Rain Protest, with headlines including “Power to the purple…” and “Demo chaos—1000 held.”

Reproduced newspaper archives, Water-cannon police rout protesters in Cape streets: Demo chaos 1000 held, Sunday Times, 3 September 1989 and Power to the People in
the Watery Wars, Weekly Mail and Guardian, 8-14 September 1989. The South African History Archive (SAHA) is the custodian of this media.

A dark gallery bathed in purple light displays archival protest footage of a water cannon, captioned “Protester turns watercannon on police.”

Purple Rain on September 2nd, 1989. Single channel SD video, 08:47 mins. The South African History Archive (SAHA) is the custodian of this media.

Purple light fills a gallery displaying two small framed photographs and two objects in glass cases on illuminated purple plinths.
Purple-lit gallery with glass display cases on white plinths and large translucent screens in wooden frames dividing the exhibition space.
Wide view of a purple-lit gallery with two translucent partitions framing display cases and small photographs, with audio equipment and seating to the right.
An open dompas, handwritten identification booklet displayed beneath a glass case, illuminated by purple gallery lighting.

Dompas, issued January 1959. South African Government Reference Book, perspex vitrine.

Identification card displayed on a clear stand inside a glass case in a purple-lit gallery.

Aunty Thelma's Identity Card, issued March 1960. Plastic laminated identity card, perspex vitrine.

Gold-framed vintage photograph of a Black family of four people sitting together on the hillside of Table Mountain, with purple gallery lights reflected in the glass.

Foto geneem op tafelberg van Rhoda, Joy, Faith, Mummy en Daddy, 2022. Framed digital C-type print on lustre paper (reproduced archival photograph, date unknown).

Gold-framed black-and-white photograph of a smiling Black family group embracing outdoors, with purple gallery lights reflected in the glass.

Cousins gathering in Cape Town, South Africa, 2022. Framed digital C-type print on lustre paper (reproduced archival photograph, date unknown).

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Purple-lit gallery with tall windows, curved white benches, headphones, and a suspended screen on a metal pole showing a man speaking on television.

The Purple Shall Govern, 2023. 18 windows with 797 'deep purple' lighting gel.

Purple-lit gallery with tall windows, three curved white seats with headphones, and a tilted video screen positioned near the floor. On the left side part of the wall is cut out with a video monitor sitting inside the wall.
Wide view of a purple-lit gallery with curved white listening seats, headphones, a floor-level video screen, suspended screen on a metal pole playing a video work, display cases, and translucent partitions.
Floor-level video screen installation surrounded by three curved white seats and multiple headphones in a gallery illuminated with vivid purple light.

Lunch with the family at Mignon Street, Cape Town, 2022. Audio video installation with single channel HD video, headphones, fabricated seating. 36:33 mins.

Wide view of a spacious gallery washed in vivid purple light, with six tall windows, curved white listening seats, headphones, and a tilted floor-level screen.
A small vintage broadcast monitor playing archival footage of South African politician P.W. Botha seated at a desk is visible through a long, dark opening cut through the base of a purple-lit gallery wall.

Though buried, They echo, 2023. Video installation with gallery wall intervention, single channel SD video, broadcast monitor, perspex. 03:59 mins.

Side view through a dark wall opening shows a small vintage broadcast monitor playing archival footage of South African politician John Vorster addressing a crowd, with bright gallery windows reflected across the glass.
Close-up of a vintage Philips cassette radio and tangled audio cables on the gallery floor, with headphones resting on a curved white seat behind it, illuminated by purple light a the gallery

And so the mood was quite intense, 2022. Sound installation with analogue radio and fabricated seating. 14:22 mins. Vocals by Peter Abrahams and Roberta Joy Rich.

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Suspended screen on a metal pole in a purple-lit gallery shows Nelson Mandela speaking at a podium, captioned “South Africa shall be free.”

Pigs might fly too, 2023. Single channel standard definition video. 05:45 mins. This artwork was created with archival footage courtesy of The Aboriginal History Archive.

Suspended screen shows an Indigenous person holding up the Aboriginal flag, with two curved white benches positioned in the purple-lit gallery. A white spotlight circles the gallery wall label.
Wide view of a spacious purple-lit gallery with tall windows, curved white listening benches, headphones, and a suspended screen on a metal pole plays an archival video of 90s news media showing a man in a suit.

Photo's by Dan McCabe.