Run 2006
Simryn Gill | Run (detail) 1996 | Four Type C photographs, edition of 3 | Taken at Pulau Run, Banda Sea, Indonesia | 25 x 25 cm each | Image courtesy: The artist, BREENSPACE, Sydney and Tracy Williams Ltd, New York | © The artist
Run 2006
Run traces a journey to and around Pulau Run, one of the Indonesian Banda Islands. These islands were the original source of nutmeg and an important element in the spice trade, one of the earliest forms of international commerce. The spice trade fuelled global exploration and colonial expansion, with European powers competing for control of key territories and sea routes during the 1600s. In 1667 the British and Dutch ended the second Anglo-Dutch War with the Treaty of Breda, which involved a settlement in which the British exchanged Pulau Run and other territories to retain control of New York. The photographs are like postcards from Gill’s journey, showing the island’s jetty, the room in a private home where she stayed, the barely maintained nutmeg plantations, and a nutmeg tree, once the source of enormous wealth.
