Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Mixed media
36 x 70 x 18 cm
2025
Working with recycled materials, Mark Gibbs uses the enduring bond between humans and horses to examine history, conflict, and the shifting legacies of power. The mounted figure— an ancient emblem of authority—now appears both archaic and unsettlingly current, a reminder of how readily outdated hierarchies and imperial assumptions ride again, sustained by the lingering belief that “might is right.” He is drawn to the contradictions the horseman embodies—elegance and brutality, compassion and coercion—echoing the tensions in Sidney Nolan’s images of Ned Kelly, where myth and history collide. Influenced by archival photographs from the First World War, Gibbs positions his riders between aftermath and prelude, asking what we inherit, what collapses, and how responsibility for peace is carried forward.
Mixed media
36 x 70 x 18 cm
2025
Working with recycled materials, Mark Gibbs uses the enduring bond between humans and horses to examine history, conflict, and the shifting legacies of power. The mounted figure— an ancient emblem of authority—now appears both archaic and unsettlingly current, a reminder of how readily outdated hierarchies and imperial assumptions ride again, sustained by the lingering belief that “might is right.” He is drawn to the contradictions the horseman embodies—elegance and brutality, compassion and coercion—echoing the tensions in Sidney Nolan’s images of Ned Kelly, where myth and history collide. Influenced by archival photographs from the First World War, Gibbs positions his riders between aftermath and prelude, asking what we inherit, what collapses, and how responsibility for peace is carried forward.