PORTFOLIO: Terra Nullius, Australia: Terranullius_19_DAV2010-1201_D01_19

Popular throughout the 20th century in Australia, the Boxing Tent is a traditional tent that would travel from country town to country town staging boxing fights. In 1924, Roy Bell is one of the first men to take to the road with his caravan. Renowned for having taken his tent all over the Northern Territory, the state of Queensland and New South Wales, he later became one of the leading figures of the Boxing Tent phenomenon. From a very young age his grandson Michael Karaitiana was immersed in the atmosphere of this show.Michael’s father was Maori, his mother Australian. Michael has not been immune to racism, experiencing it firsthand from his maternal family who rejected his parents’ relationship. The Boxing Tent is therefore more than a simple boxing match; it’s a family story, the memory of the Bell family. Michael left school at 16 to take over the business. In a way he got his revenge and saved his father’s honour. To be able to keep the business running has been a source of personal pride, even though he remains modest about it.As soon as an opportunity comes up, Michael loads up his bus, kisses his wife Mandy and his five children goodbye and heads off with a few boxers to travel the roads of the Outback. Most of the time their journey takes them to pubs, isolated aboriginal communities or cattle stations in the Northern Territory and Queensland. Today Michael is the last man in Australia to keep the original generational show of the Boxing Tent alive. And he is already thinking of passing on his knowledge to his eldest son, Mikey. The Bell show still has a long life ahead.The bell rings. The spectators crowd together. The show is about to start. From his stage, with his black hat and his meticulously braided long hair, a tattoo around his left ear combining his Maori and Australian cultures, Michael Karaitiana’s dark eyes fall upon a crowd already in full effervescence.In this photo : Michael en route to Darwin. Once a year Michael is on the road again for a couple of months. He travels from Alice Springs to Darwin. He set up the tent in major cities such as Tennant Creek, Katherine, on is way to Darwin, NT, 2013.

Popular throughout the 20th century in Australia, the Boxing Tent is a traditional tent that would travel from country town to country town staging boxing fights. In 1924, Roy Bell is one of the first men to take to the road with his caravan. Renowned for having taken his tent all over the Northern Territory, the state of Queensland and New South Wales, he later became one of the leading figures of the Boxing Tent phenomenon. From a very young age his grandson Michael Karaitiana was immersed in the atmosphere of this show. 

Michael’s father was Maori, his mother Australian. Michael has not been immune to racism, experiencing it firsthand from his maternal family who rejected his parents’ relationship. The Boxing Tent is therefore more than a simple boxing match; it’s a family story, the memory of the Bell family. Michael left school at 16 to take over the business. In a way he got his revenge and saved his father’s honour. To be able to keep the business running has been a source of personal pride, even though he remains modest about it. 

As soon as an opportunity comes up, Michael loads up his bus, kisses his wife Mandy and his five children goodbye and heads off with a few boxers to travel the roads of the Outback. Most of the time their journey takes them to pubs, isolated aboriginal communities or cattle stations in the Northern Territory and Queensland. Today Michael is the last man in Australia to keep the original generational show of the Boxing Tent alive. And he is already thinking of passing on his knowledge to his eldest son, Mikey. The Bell show still has a long life ahead. 

The bell rings. The spectators crowd together. The show is about to start. From his stage, with his black hat and his meticulously braided long hair, a tattoo around his left ear combining his Maori and Australian cultures, Michael Karaitiana’s dark eyes fall upon a crowd already in full effervescence. 

In this photo : Michael en route to Darwin. Once a year Michael is on the road again for a couple of months. He travels from Alice Springs to Darwin. He set up the tent in major cities such as Tennant Creek, Katherine, on is way to Darwin, NT, 2013.