Cook’s interest in becoming an artist was driven by a desire to explore his Aboriginal heritage. As such, biography is critical to his work.

Mother 2016 is the artist’s most personal work to date as it draws directly from Cook’s lived experience of being adopted. The artist’s biological parents—a Bidjara man from southwest Queensland and a non-indigenous woman—fell pregnant with the artist when his birth mother was only 16 years old. During the late 1960s, having a child out of wedlock and at a young age was taboo; therefore, Cook’s birth mother decided adoption was her only choice. At three weeks old he was adopted to a non-indigenous family in Hervey Bay. Cook’s adoptive parents made him aware of his Indigenous heritage from a young age, and when the artist was 30 years old, he tracked down and met his birth mother. When they met she told him not a day passed that she didn’t think of him; the baby she gave away.

These ideas are reflected in Mother. Set in a deserted Australian landscape, a female figure dressed in 1960’s clothing appears across the images. The 1960s were a critical time in the civil rights movement for Indigenous people in Australia. It was also a dark period in history with the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their family known as the Stolen Generations. This mother is alone but surrounded by children’s objects including a pram, a tricycle, and a see-saw. Like The Mission, this series talks about the tragedy of the  Stolen Generations but also honours the universal connection between mother and child.

Michael Cook
Mother 2016
Top, left to right
Mother (Seesaw), Mother (Tennis), Mother (Ice cream)
Bottom, left to right
Mother (Bicycle), Mother (Merry-go-round), Mother (Hopscotch), Mother (Pram)
inkjet print on paper
edition 8 + 2 AP
USC Art Collection
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Michael Cook, 2018
Courtesy the artist, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne