Laura Potter

Goldweights of the 19th Century Australian Colonists is a collection of fake objects exploring difference through individual material cultures. This project supposes that British settlers during the Australian gold rush developed a means of measuring gold similar to the way African goldsmiths weigh precious metals, using 'goldweights'. These goldweights are both functional and instructional, communicating moral messages and tribal histories. This set of fake goldweights imagines that the gold rush settlers told their own stories, or generated their own myths, using a parallel version of the (genuine) African method.

Goldweights is available as a book (pdf).
Print version available on request.

This work was made for the touring exhibition Transplantation.