Heads from the North: Transcultural Memorialization of the 1965 Indonesian Killings at the National Gallery of Australia

Abstract

This chapter considers the functions and messages of an Australian memorial dedicated to those killed in the 1965 Indonesian killings. Using the concept of transcultural memory, McGregor examines the personal and transcultural connections between the violence and the Indonesian artist behind the work, Dadang Christanto and between Australia and Indonesia more broadly. McGregor advocates for a new conceptualization of globalized memories of violence that reflects not only the movement of people and memory through migration, but also the processes by which we can see national histories as entwined.