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Clip description
An intoxicated man sways before the camera. Three Aboriginal women walk into a games parlour in seedy Kings Cross. They sit at a table and check out the other patrons. Subtitles tell us about 'Captains’ – men who can be tricked into paying for their night out. A drunken white man approaches the women and eventually takes a seat at their table, offering them cigarettes.
Curator’s notes
In this opening sequence of Nice Coloured Girls, Tracey Moffatt introduces the audience to the concept of 'Captains’, the men who are picked up by the three Indigenous women to fund their night out. Moffatt contextualises this sexual relationship by providing an historical insight into how Indigenous women were perceived by British men during the early colonisation of Australia. Rather than being depicted as victims, Moffatt shows how the women who knowingly exploit the men who desire their company reverse a potentially powerless position.
This clip uses footage of Kings Cross nightlife, subtitles and a painting that serves as a metaphor for the sexual relationship between white men and Indigenous women. Dialogue is largely absent, providing a space that Moffatt maximises to inform this short film with a history that – at the time of making the film – was strictly taboo and, some may argue, still is.
