Passive Aggressive Power | Clinton Naina

In his first exhibition since joining Gallerysmith in 2018, Clinton Naina reveals a new series of paintings, works on paper, installation and film which explore the impact of imperial power structures imposed on Torres Strait Islanders since 1871.

Naina says, “this body of work is created and presented to you unfortunately from a long connection to passive-aggressivism. Being me (blak velvet queen) and where I live on the other side of the fence.  Where I come from and how I and my people in the past and in the now (today) live and are treated by the ‘almighty powerful aggressor’. The Master, Invader, Capitalist, Colonists and Crown, holding a bottle of White King Bleach, hiding behind the Cross with greed in their eyes and with a great uncontrollable hunger for more and more. As I and my people are told to remain pacified because this is ‘God’.”