The Hand We Were Dealt
Description
The Hand We Were Dealt
by Rachel Wolfe
2026
oil on canvas
Artwork dimensions: 100 × 100 cm
Framed dimensions: XX × XX × 5.5 cm
The Hand We Were Dealt reworks the 1954 collectable swap card 9. Cook at Botany Bay, one of many popular images through which colonial history was made familiar, heroic and easily consumed. In the original image, Cook and his crew encounter Indigenous people at Kamay (Botany Bay). Here, the two Indigenous men have been deliberately removed. Their absence shifts attention to the actions of the colonial figures themselves: the raised musket, the British Red Ensign and Cook’s outstretched hand. A gesture once presented as evidence of calm authority becomes more ambiguous when separated from the familiar historical narrative. The colonial figures are rendered as children’s moulded plastic toys, polished, simplified and seemingly benign, reflecting upon the images and objects through which histories are made familiar and passed between generations. The work asks us to reconsider what we were shown, what we were taught to see, and what becomes visible when we look again.
Framing
Professionally presented in a custom floating frame made from stained Native Mahogany. The solid timber frame is sustainably sourced, plantation grown and kiln dried, and under- and cross-pinned for strength and rigidity. Frame profile: 55 mm deep with a 10 mm front face.