Megan Cope

Megan Cope (b. 1982, Brisbane) is a Quandamooka woman and artist from North Stradbroke island who is currently living and working in Melbourne. Through diverse mediums Cope’s dynamic practice investigates themes of history, place and environment, contested identities and power.

Cope’s early topographical paintings mapping Quandamooka country and the surrounds are important historical documents of place and language but also propositions of potential futures alluding to climate change, land ownership and migration. Cope’s installation practice includes her large scale RE FORMATION series in which she recreates significant shell midden sites from her country, built up over thousands of years of food gathering and processing practices by Quandamooka people. Across the country, many of these middens were desecrated by early colonists to extract lime, thereby erasing evidence of First Nations occupation and land use.

Image: Performance: Megan Cope, Quandamooka people, South East Queensland, born 1982, Brisbane, Untitled (Death Song), 2020, Five instruments constructed from repurposed soil augers, oil drums, piano and violin strings, bowstrings, shells, scoria; rocks sourced from South Australia Drill Core Reference Library, Adelaide; performed by four South Australian musicians on Kaurna country; photo Saul Steed.