Carriageworks, one of Australia’s largest multi-arts precincts, has today unveiled a new large-scale wall assemblage titled Return to Sender by acclaimed Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens. Installed in the Carriageworks public space and presented free to the public until 30 January 2022, the installation reworks found postcards picturing First Nations people from the turn of last century with contemporary representations of First Nations Australians.

In a show of pride and defiance, these racist postcards are stamped for return to their sender. Dickens rescales the postcards and inserts two defiant contemporary portraits of First Australians into the scene. Printed on industrial tarpaulin, these collaged images are framed with domestic detritus, from rusted corrugated iron to unhoused front fences and decapitated letter boxes, sealing the installation with a 200-kilogram prison door.