More often than not, Google’s homepage Easter Eggs either spruik some inane time-killer or celebrate the works of cultural icons.
Today, they’ve done neither of those things. The Australia Day doodle has gone live, and it actually gives credence to the other side of today’s patriotic coin: the oppression of Indigenous Australians through the Stolen Generation.
Source: Google.
Created by Canberra student Ineka Voigt last year, the artwork somehow fits poignant imagery around the search engine’s typography. At the time, Voigt told Fairfax “if I could go back in time I’d want to change what happened with the stolen generation.”
“Being more realistic I can’t change it, but instead I wanted to send a message of reconciliation.”
She explained the piece’s name Stolen Dreamtime to Google, saying “a weeping mother sits in an ochre desert, dreaming of her children and a life that never was …all that remains is red sand, tears and the whispers of her stolen dreamtime.”
It’s not the first time the company has used their page to make an overt political or humanitarian statement. In 2014, they displayed their solidarity with LGBT athletes at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
While the act of posting the artwork is somewhat transient – after all, we can expect it to disappear from the site after today – with any luck, having such a prominent body display the piece will spur some contemplation on what it means to venerate Australia’s cultural history.
Source: Google / Fairfax.
Photo: Google.
Photo: Google.
