ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on engagements with law’s documents by contemporary visual artists. Creative works made from legal documents take advantage of the qualities that give such documents their power, factual and historical heft, attachment to sincere emotional events and the ability to elucidate legal systems and processes. As a result, legal documents provide a rich resource for artists. This chapter explores the way artists exploit or amplify three compelling facets of legal documents: their aesthetic, witnessing and affective powers. These facets are explored through analysis of artworks created by Shevaun Wright, Judy Watson, Bindi Cole and Vernon Ah Kee.
