DANIEL BOYD

Continuing Boyd’s interrogation of colonial and imperial narratives, The Mirror Stage draws from historical and cultural sources to invite the viewer to critically challenge the ways in which historical narratives are formed and refracted through visual culture. The deliberate obscuring of these images questions the authenticity and authority of historical representations, calling into question the way that history itself has been documented.

Central to Boyd’s art is the consistent tension between the visible and the invisible, the known and the unknown. This duality extends to his consideration of Lacanian psychoanalysis, particularly the concept of the ‘mirror stage’. According to Jacques Lacan, the ‘mirror stage’ refers to a critical moment in the development of the child, where they first encounter their own reflection, thus marking the formation of the ego within the three registers of the Symbolic, the Real and the Imaginary.

Daniel Boyd’s work challenges viewers to reconsider the way history is told, who it serves, and whose voices are given precedence. By revising the visual and cultural landscape, Boyd offers a reimagined future in which history is more inclusive, equitable, more truthful, and more attuned to the diverse and often overlooked histories of Indigenous peoples.