Jonathan Jones: they made a solitude and called it peace was officially opened at the gallery last night.

The new suite of video works and installations by high profile Wiradyuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones was commissioned by BRAG as part of Bathurst’s bicentenary and made with the support and involvement of the Bathurst Wiradyuri and Aboriginal Community Elders Group.

The gallery’s education and public programs officer, Emma Hill, said the project tells the story of sovereignty, of bloodshed, conquered lands and the endurance of the Wiradyuri people through a series of moving-image works, installations and community engagement workshops.

“At the heart of this story is the struggle over country,” she said.

“This project aims to highlight the beauty of this scarred landscape that was the setting for Australia’s first inland frontier war.”

Born in 1978, Mr Jones, who is based in Sydney, has exhibited both nationally and internationally since the late 1990s.

“The founding of Bathurst and the treatment of Wiradyuri set the tone for the colonisation of Australia’s interior, which saw a tsunami of destruction for countless Aboriginal communities on the one hand and the generation of enormous wealth for Australia on the other,” he said.

“The prosperity that came with ‘opening up’ the interior helped define the national identity.

“Wiradyuri country is loaded with history, from the resistance movement led by Windradyne and others, to the enacting of martial law in 1824 and consequences for local community and country.”

The suite of video works commissioned for the project will become an important part of the gallery’s permanent collection.

The project will be on exhibition at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery until November 22.